Access Information for Node Configuration

ABSTRACT

A base station distributed unit receives, from a base station central unit, a request message for a context configuration of a wireless device. The request message comprises a field indicating whether the wireless device is only allowed to access a cell associated with at least one closed access group. The base station distributed unit determines, based on the request message, cell configuration parameters of one or more cells for the wireless device, wherein the one or more cells are associated with the at least one closed access group. base station distributed unit sends, to the base station central unit, an acknowledge message comprising the cell configuration parameters of the one or more cells for the wireless device

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/825,770, filed Mar. 28, 2019, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Examples of several of the various embodiments of the present disclosureare described herein with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example RAN architecture as per an aspect ofan embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2A is a diagram of an example user plane protocol stack as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2B is a diagram of an example control plane protocol stack as peran aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example wireless device and two base stationsas per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B, FIG. 4C and FIG. 4D are example diagrams for uplinkand downlink signal transmission as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 5A is a diagram of an example uplink channel mapping and exampleuplink physical signals as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 5B is a diagram of an example downlink channel mapping and exampledownlink physical signals as per an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a diagram depicting an example transmission time or receptiontime for a carrier as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B are diagrams depicting example sets of OFDMsubcarriers as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting example OFDM radio resources as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9A is a diagram depicting an example CSI-RS and/or SS blocktransmission in a multi-beam system.

FIG. 9B is a diagram depicting an example downlink beam managementprocedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is an example diagram of configured BWPs as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11A, and FIG. 11B are diagrams of an example multi connectivity asper an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a diagram of an example random access procedure as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a structure of example MAC entities as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is a diagram of an example RAN architecture as per an aspect ofan embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 is an example diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 16 is an example diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 17 is an example diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 18 is an example diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 19 is an example diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 20 is an example diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 21 is an example diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 22 is an example diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 23 is an example diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 24 is an example diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 25 is an example diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 26 is an example diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Example embodiments of the present disclosure enable operation ofwireless communication systems. Embodiments of the technology disclosedherein may be employed in the technical field of multicarriercommunication systems. More particularly, the embodiments of thetechnology disclosed herein may relate to radio access networks inmulticarrier communication systems.

The following Acronyms are used throughout the present disclosure:

-   -   3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project    -   5GC 5G Core Network    -   ACK Acknowledgement    -   AMF Access and Mobility Management Function    -   ARQ Automatic Repeat Request    -   AS Access Stratum    -   ASIC Application-Specific Integrated Circuit    -   BA Bandwidth Adaptation    -   BCCH Broadcast Control Channel    -   BCH Broadcast Channel    -   BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying    -   BWP Bandwidth Part    -   CA Carrier Aggregation    -   CC Component Carrier    -   CCCH Common Control CHannel    -   CDMA Code Division Multiple Access    -   CN Core Network    -   CP Cyclic Prefix    -   CP-OFDM Cyclic Prefix-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex    -   C-RNTI Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier    -   CS Configured Scheduling    -   CSI Channel State Information    -   CSI-RS Channel State Information-Reference Signal    -   CQI Channel Quality Indicator    -   CSS Common Search Space    -   CU Central Unit    -   DC Dual Connectivity    -   DCCH Dedicated Control Channel    -   DCI Downlink Control Information    -   DL Downlink    -   DL-SCH Downlink Shared CHannel    -   DM-RS DeModulation Reference Signal    -   DRB Data Radio Bearer    -   DRX Discontinuous Reception    -   DTCH Dedicated Traffic Channel    -   DU Distributed Unit    -   EPC Evolved Packet Core    -   E-UTRA Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access    -   E-UTRAN Evolved-Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network    -   FDD Frequency Division Duplex    -   FPGA Field Programmable Gate Arrays    -   F1-C F1-Control plane    -   F1-U F1-User plane    -   gNB next generation Node B    -   HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest    -   HDL Hardware Description Languages    -   IE Information Element    -   IP Internet Protocol    -   LCID Logical Channel Identifier    -   LTE Long Term Evolution    -   MAC Media Access Control    -   MCG Master Cell Group    -   MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme    -   MeNB Master evolved Node B    -   MIB Master Information Block    -   MME Mobility Management Entity    -   MN Master Node    -   NACK Negative Acknowledgement    -   NAS Non-Access Stratum    -   NG CP Next Generation Control Plane    -   NGC Next Generation Core    -   NG-C NG-Control plane    -   ng-eNB next generation evolved Node B    -   NG-U NG-User plane    -   NR New Radio    -   NR MAC New Radio MAC    -   NR PDCP New Radio PDCP    -   NR PHY New Radio PHYsical    -   NR RLC New Radio RLC    -   NR RRC New Radio RRC    -   NSSAI Network Slice Selection Assistance Information    -   O&M Operation and Maintenance    -   OFDM orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing    -   PBCH Physical Broadcast CHannel    -   PCC Primary Component Carrier    -   PCCH Paging Control CHannel    -   PCell Primary Cell    -   PCH Paging CHannel    -   PDCCH Physical Downlink Control CHannel    -   PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol    -   PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared CHannel    -   PDU Protocol Data Unit    -   PHICH Physical HARQ Indicator CHannel    -   PHY PHYsical    -   PLMN Public Land Mobile Network    -   PMI Precoding Matrix Indicator    -   PRACH Physical Random Access CHannel    -   PRB Physical Resource Block    -   PSCell Primary Secondary Cell    -   PSS Primary Synchronization Signal    -   pTAG primary Timing Advance Group    -   PT-RS Phase Tracking Reference Signal    -   PUCCH Physical Uplink Control CHannel    -   PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared CHannel    -   QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation    -   QFI Quality of Service Indicator    -   QoS Quality of Service    -   QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying    -   RA Random Access    -   RACH Random Access CHannel    -   RAN Radio Access Network    -   RAT Radio Access Technology    -   RA-RNTI Random Access-Radio Network Temporary Identifier    -   RB Resource Blocks    -   RBG Resource Block Groups    -   RI Rank indicator    -   RLC Radio Link Control    -   RRC Radio Resource Control    -   RS Reference Signal    -   RSRP Reference Signal Received Power    -   SCC Secondary Component Carrier    -   SCell Secondary Cell    -   SCG Secondary Cell Group    -   SC-FDMA Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access    -   SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol    -   SDU Service Data Unit    -   SeNB Secondary evolved Node B    -   SFN System Frame Number    -   S-GW Serving GateWay    -   SI System Information    -   SIB System Information Block    -   SMF Session Management Function    -   SN Secondary Node    -   SpCell Special Cell    -   SRB Signaling Radio Bearer    -   SRS Sounding Reference Signal    -   SS Synchronization Signal    -   SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal    -   sTAG secondary Timing Advance Group    -   TA Timing Advance    -   TAG Timing Advance Group    -   TAI Tracking Area Identifier    -   TAT Time Alignment Timer    -   TB Transport Block    -   TC-RNTI Temporary Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier    -   TDD Time Division Duplex    -   TDMA Time Division Multiple Access    -   TTI Transmission Time Interval    -   UCI Uplink Control Information    -   UE User Equipment    -   UL Uplink    -   UL-SCH Uplink Shared CHannel    -   UPF User Plane Function    -   UPGW User Plane Gateway    -   VHDL VHSIC Hardware Description Language    -   Xn-C Xn-Control plane    -   Xn-U Xn-User plane

Example embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented using variousphysical layer modulation and transmission mechanisms. Exampletransmission mechanisms may include, but are not limited to: CodeDivision Multiple Access (CDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division MultipleAccess (OFDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Wavelettechnologies, and/or the like. Hybrid transmission mechanisms such asTDMA/CDMA, and OFDM/CDMA may also be employed. Various modulationschemes may be applied for signal transmission in the physical layer.Examples of modulation schemes include, but are not limited to: phase,amplitude, code, a combination of these, and/or the like. An exampleradio transmission method may implement Quadrature Amplitude Modulation(QAM) using Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK), Quadrature Phase ShiftKeying (QPSK), 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, and/or the like. Physical radiotransmission may be enhanced by dynamically or semi-dynamically changingthe modulation and coding scheme depending on transmission requirementsand radio conditions.

FIG. 1 is an example Radio Access Network (RAN) architecture as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated inthis example, a RAN node may be a next generation Node B (gNB) (e.g.120A, 120B) providing New Radio (NR) user plane and control planeprotocol terminations towards a first wireless device (e.g. 110A). In anexample, a RAN node may be a next generation evolved Node B (ng-eNB)(e.g. 120C, 120D), providing Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access(E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards asecond wireless device (e.g. 110B). The first wireless device maycommunicate with a gNB over a Uu interface. The second wireless devicemay communicate with a ng-eNB over a Uu interface.

A gNB or an ng-eNB may host functions such as radio resource managementand scheduling, IP header compression, encryption and integrityprotection of data, selection of Access and Mobility Management Function(AMF) at User Equipment (UE) attachment, routing of user plane andcontrol plane data, connection setup and release, scheduling andtransmission of paging messages (originated from the AMF), schedulingand transmission of system broadcast information (originated from theAMF or Operation and Maintenance (O&M)), measurement and measurementreporting configuration, transport level packet marking in the uplink,session management, support of network slicing, Quality of Service (QoS)flow management and mapping to data radio bearers, support of UEs inRRC_INACTIVE state, distribution function for Non-Access Stratum (NAS)messages, RAN sharing, dual connectivity or tight interworking betweenNR and E-UTRA.

In an example, one or more gNBs and/or one or more ng-eNBs may beinterconnected with each other by means of Xn interface. A gNB or anng-eNB may be connected by means of NG interfaces to 5G Core Network(5GC). In an example, 5GC may comprise one or more AMF/User PlanFunction (UPF) functions (e.g. 130A or 130B). A gNB or an ng-eNB may beconnected to a UPF by means of an NG-User plane (NG-U) interface. TheNG-U interface may provide delivery (e.g. non-guaranteed delivery) ofuser plane Protocol Data Units (PDUs) between a RAN node and the UPF. AgNB or an ng-eNB may be connected to an AMF by means of an NG-Controlplane (NG-C) interface. The NG-C interface may provide functions such asNG interface management, UE context management, UE mobility management,transport of NAS messages, paging, PDU session management, configurationtransfer or warning message transmission.

In an example, a UPF may host functions such as anchor point forintra-/inter-Radio Access Technology (RAT) mobility (when applicable),external PDU session point of interconnect to data network, packetrouting and forwarding, packet inspection and user plane part of policyrule enforcement, traffic usage reporting, uplink classifier to supportrouting traffic flows to a data network, branching point to supportmulti-homed PDU session, QoS handling for user plane, e.g. packetfiltering, gating, Uplink (UL)/Downlink (DL) rate enforcement, uplinktraffic verification (e.g. Service Data Flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping),downlink packet buffering and/or downlink data notification triggering.

In an example, an AMF may host functions such as NAS signalingtermination, NAS signaling security, Access Stratum (AS) securitycontrol, inter Core Network (CN) node signaling for mobility between3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access networks, idle modeUE reachability (e.g., control and execution of paging retransmission),registration area management, support of intra-system and inter-systemmobility, access authentication, access authorization including check ofroaming rights, mobility management control (subscription and policies),support of network slicing and/or Session Management Function (SMF)selection.

FIG. 2A is an example user plane protocol stack, where Service DataAdaptation Protocol (SDAP) (e.g. 211 and 221), Packet Data ConvergenceProtocol (PDCP) (e.g. 212 and 222), Radio Link Control (RLC) (e.g. 213and 223) and Media Access Control (MAC) (e.g. 214 and 224) sublayers andPhysical (PHY) (e.g. 215 and 225) layer may be terminated in wirelessdevice (e.g. 110) and gNB (e.g. 120) on the network side. In an example,a PHY layer provides transport services to higher layers (e.g. MAC, RRC,etc). In an example, services and functions of a MAC sublayer maycomprise mapping between logical channels and transport channels,multiplexing/demultiplexing of MAC Service Data Units (SDUs) belongingto one or different logical channels into/from Transport Blocks (TBs)delivered to/from the PHY layer, scheduling information reporting, errorcorrection through Hybrid Automatic Repeat request (HARQ) (e.g. one HARQentity per carrier in case of Carrier Aggregation (CA)), priorityhandling between UEs by means of dynamic scheduling, priority handlingbetween logical channels of one UE by means of logical channelprioritization, and/or padding. A MAC entity may support one or multiplenumerologies and/or transmission timings. In an example, mappingrestrictions in a logical channel prioritization may control whichnumerology and/or transmission timing a logical channel may use. In anexample, an RLC sublayer may supports transparent mode (TM),unacknowledged mode (UM) and acknowledged mode (AM) transmission modes.The RLC configuration may be per logical channel with no dependency onnumerologies and/or Transmission Time Interval (TTI) durations. In anexample, Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) may operate on any of thenumerologies and/or TTI durations the logical channel is configuredwith. In an example, services and functions of the PDCP layer for theuser plane may comprise sequence numbering, header compression anddecompression, transfer of user data, reordering and duplicatedetection, PDCP PDU routing (e.g. in case of split bearers),retransmission of PDCP SDUs, ciphering, deciphering and integrityprotection, PDCP SDU discard, PDCP re-establishment and data recoveryfor RLC AM, and/or duplication of PDCP PDUs. In an example, services andfunctions of SDAP may comprise mapping between a QoS flow and a dataradio bearer. In an example, services and functions of SDAP may comprisemapping Quality of Service Indicator (QFI) in DL and UL packets. In anexample, a protocol entity of SDAP may be configured for an individualPDU session.

FIG. 2B is an example control plane protocol stack where PDCP (e.g. 233and 242), RLC (e.g. 234 and 243) and MAC (e.g. 235 and 244) sublayersand PHY (e.g. 236 and 245) layer may be terminated in wireless device(e.g. 110) and gNB (e.g. 120) on a network side and perform service andfunctions described above. In an example, RRC (e.g. 232 and 241) may beterminated in a wireless device and a gNB on a network side. In anexample, services and functions of RRC may comprise broadcast of systeminformation related to AS and NAS, paging initiated by 5GC or RAN,establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between theUE and RAN, security functions including key management, establishment,configuration, maintenance and release of Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs)and Data Radio Bearers (DRBs), mobility functions, QoS managementfunctions, UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting,detection of and recovery from radio link failure, and/or NAS messagetransfer to/from NAS from/to a UE. In an example, NAS control protocol(e.g. 231 and 251) may be terminated in the wireless device and AMF(e.g. 130) on a network side and may perform functions such asauthentication, mobility management between a UE and a AMF for 3GPPaccess and non-3GPP access, and session management between a UE and aSMF for 3GPP access and non-3GPP access.

In an example, a base station may configure a plurality of logicalchannels for a wireless device. A logical channel in the plurality oflogical channels may correspond to a radio bearer and the radio bearermay be associated with a QoS requirement. In an example, a base stationmay configure a logical channel to be mapped to one or moreTTIs/numerologies in a plurality of TTIs/numerologies. The wirelessdevice may receive a Downlink Control Information (DCI) via PhysicalDownlink Control CHannel (PDCCH) indicating an uplink grant. In anexample, the uplink grant may be for a first TTI/numerology and mayindicate uplink resources for transmission of a transport block. Thebase station may configure each logical channel in the plurality oflogical channels with one or more parameters to be used by a logicalchannel prioritization procedure at the MAC layer of the wirelessdevice. The one or more parameters may comprise priority, prioritizedbit rate, etc. A logical channel in the plurality of logical channelsmay correspond to one or more buffers comprising data associated withthe logical channel. The logical channel prioritization procedure mayallocate the uplink resources to one or more first logical channels inthe plurality of logical channels and/or one or more MAC ControlElements (CEs). The one or more first logical channels may be mapped tothe first TTI/numerology. The MAC layer at the wireless device maymultiplex one or more MAC CEs and/or one or more MAC SDUs (e.g., logicalchannel) in a MAC PDU (e.g., transport block). In an example, the MACPDU may comprise a MAC header comprising a plurality of MAC sub-headers.A MAC sub-header in the plurality of MAC sub-headers may correspond to aMAC CE or a MAC SUD (logical channel) in the one or more MAC CEs and/orone or more MAC SDUs. In an example, a MAC CE or a logical channel maybe configured with a Logical Channel IDentifier (LCID). In an example,LCID for a logical channel or a MAC CE may be fixed/pre-configured. Inan example, LCID for a logical channel or MAC CE may be configured forthe wireless device by the base station. The MAC sub-headercorresponding to a MAC CE or a MAC SDU may comprise LCID associated withthe MAC CE or the MAC SDU.

In an example, a base station may activate and/or deactivate and/orimpact one or more processes (e.g., set values of one or more parametersof the one or more processes or start and/or stop one or more timers ofthe one or more processes) at the wireless device by employing one ormore MAC commands The one or more MAC commands may comprise one or moreMAC control elements. In an example, the one or more processes maycomprise activation and/or deactivation of PDCP packet duplication forone or more radio bearers. The base station may transmit a MAC CEcomprising one or more fields, the values of the fields indicatingactivation and/or deactivation of PDCP duplication for the one or moreradio bearers. In an example, the one or more processes may compriseChannel State Information (CSI) transmission of on one or more cells.The base station may transmit one or more MAC CEs indicating activationand/or deactivation of the CSI transmission on the one or more cells. Inan example, the one or more processes may comprise activation ordeactivation of one or more secondary cells. In an example, the basestation may transmit a MA CE indicating activation or deactivation ofone or more secondary cells. In an example, the base station maytransmit one or more MAC CEs indicating starting and/or stopping one ormore Discontinuous Reception (DRX) timers at the wireless device. In anexample, the base station may transmit one or more MAC CEs indicatingone or more timing advance values for one or more Timing Advance Groups(TAGs).

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of base stations (base station 1, 120A, andbase station 2, 120B) and a wireless device 110. A wireless device maybe called an UE. A base station may be called a NB, eNB, gNB, and/orng-eNB. In an example, a wireless device and/or a base station may actas a relay node. The base station 1, 120A, may comprise at least onecommunication interface 320A (e.g. a wireless modem, an antenna, a wiredmodem, and/or the like), at least one processor 321A, and at least oneset of program code instructions 323A stored in non-transitory memory322A and executable by the at least one processor 321A. The base station2, 120B, may comprise at least one communication interface 320B, atleast one processor 321B, and at least one set of program codeinstructions 323B stored in non-transitory memory 322B and executable bythe at least one processor 321B.

A base station may comprise many sectors for example: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6sectors. A base station may comprise many cells, for example, rangingfrom 1 to 50 cells or more. A cell may be categorized, for example, as aprimary cell or secondary cell. At Radio Resource Control (RRC)connection establishment/re-establishment/handover, one serving cell mayprovide the NAS (non-access stratum) mobility information (e.g. TrackingArea Identifier (TAI)). At RRC connection re-establishment/handover, oneserving cell may provide the security input. This cell may be referredto as the Primary Cell (PCell). In the downlink, a carrier correspondingto the PCell may be a DL Primary Component Carrier (PCC), while in theuplink, a carrier may be an UL PCC. Depending on wireless devicecapabilities, Secondary Cells (SCells) may be configured to formtogether with a PCell a set of serving cells. In a downlink, a carriercorresponding to an SCell may be a downlink secondary component carrier(DL SCC), while in an uplink, a carrier may be an uplink secondarycomponent carrier (UL SCC). An SCell may or may not have an uplinkcarrier.

A cell, comprising a downlink carrier and optionally an uplink carrier,may be assigned a physical cell ID and a cell index. A carrier (downlinkor uplink) may belong to one cell. The cell ID or cell index may alsoidentify the downlink carrier or uplink carrier of the cell (dependingon the context it is used). In the disclosure, a cell ID may be equallyreferred to a carrier ID, and a cell index may be referred to a carrierindex. In an implementation, a physical cell ID or a cell index may beassigned to a cell. A cell ID may be determined using a synchronizationsignal transmitted on a downlink carrier. A cell index may be determinedusing RRC messages. For example, when the disclosure refers to a firstphysical cell ID for a first downlink carrier, the disclosure may meanthe first physical cell ID is for a cell comprising the first downlinkcarrier. The same concept may apply to, for example, carrier activation.When the disclosure indicates that a first carrier is activated, thespecification may equally mean that a cell comprising the first carrieris activated.

A base station may transmit to a wireless device one or more messages(e.g. RRC messages) comprising a plurality of configuration parametersfor one or more cells. One or more cells may comprise at least oneprimary cell and at least one secondary cell. In an example, an RRCmessage may be broadcasted or unicasted to the wireless device. In anexample, configuration parameters may comprise common parameters anddedicated parameters.

Services and/or functions of an RRC sublayer may comprise at least oneof: broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS; paginginitiated by 5GC and/or NG-RAN; establishment, maintenance, and/orrelease of an RRC connection between a wireless device and NG-RAN, whichmay comprise at least one of addition, modification and release ofcarrier aggregation; or addition, modification, and/or release of dualconnectivity in NR or between E-UTRA and NR. Services and/or functionsof an RRC sublayer may further comprise at least one of securityfunctions comprising key management; establishment, configuration,maintenance, and/or release of Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs) and/orData Radio Bearers (DRBs); mobility functions which may comprise atleast one of a handover (e.g. intra NR mobility or inter-RAT mobility)and a context transfer; or a wireless device cell selection andreselection and control of cell selection and reselection. Servicesand/or functions of an RRC sublayer may further comprise at least one ofQoS management functions; a wireless device measurementconfiguration/reporting; detection of and/or recovery from radio linkfailure; or NAS message transfer to/from a core network entity (e.g.AMF, Mobility Management Entity (MME)) from/to the wireless device.

An RRC sublayer may support an RRC_Idle state, an RRC_Inactive stateand/or an RRC_Connected state for a wireless device. In an RRC_Idlestate, a wireless device may perform at least one of: Public Land MobileNetwork (PLMN) selection; receiving broadcasted system information; cellselection/re-selection; monitoring/receiving a paging for mobileterminated data initiated by 5GC; paging for mobile terminated data areamanaged by 5GC; or DRX for CN paging configured via NAS. In anRRC_Inactive state, a wireless device may perform at least one of:receiving broadcasted system information; cell selection/re-selection;monitoring/receiving a RAN/CN paging initiated by NG-RAN/5GC; RAN-basednotification area (RNA) managed by NG-RAN; or DRX for RAN/CN pagingconfigured by NG-RAN/NAS. In an RRC_Idle state of a wireless device, abase station (e.g. NG-RAN) may keep a 5GC-NG-RAN connection (bothC/U-planes) for the wireless device; and/or store a UE AS context forthe wireless device. In an RRC_Connected state of a wireless device, abase station (e.g. NG-RAN) may perform at least one of: establishment of5GC-NG-RAN connection (both C/U-planes) for the wireless device; storinga UE AS context for the wireless device; transmit/receive of unicastdata to/from the wireless device; or network-controlled mobility basedon measurement results received from the wireless device. In anRRC_Connected state of a wireless device, an NG-RAN may know a cell thatthe wireless device belongs to.

System information (SI) may be divided into minimum SI and other SI. Theminimum SI may be periodically broadcast. The minimum SI may comprisebasic information required for initial access and information foracquiring any other SI broadcast periodically or provisioned on-demand,i.e. scheduling information. The other SI may either be broadcast, or beprovisioned in a dedicated manner, either triggered by a network or uponrequest from a wireless device. A minimum SI may be transmitted via twodifferent downlink channels using different messages (e.g.MasterInformationBlock and SystemInformationBlockType1). An other SI maybe transmitted via SystemInformationBlockType2. For a wireless device inan RRC_Connected state, dedicated RRC signalling may be employed for therequest and delivery of the other SI. For the wireless device in theRRC_Idle state and/or the RRC_Inactive state, the request may trigger arandom-access procedure.

A wireless device may report its radio access capability informationwhich may be static. A base station may request what capabilities for awireless device to report based on band information. When allowed by anetwork, a temporary capability restriction request may be sent by thewireless device to signal the limited availability of some capabilities(e.g. due to hardware sharing, interference or overheating) to the basestation. The base station may confirm or reject the request. Thetemporary capability restriction may be transparent to 5GC (e.g., onlystatic capabilities may be stored in 5GC).

When CA is configured, a wireless device may have an RRC connection witha network. At RRC connection establishment/re-establishment/handoverprocedure, one serving cell may provide NAS mobility information, and atRRC connection re-establishment/handover, one serving cell may provide asecurity input. This cell may be referred to as the PCell. Depending onthe capabilities of the wireless device, SCells may be configured toform together with the PCell a set of serving cells. The configured setof serving cells for the wireless device may comprise one PCell and oneor more SCells.

The reconfiguration, addition and removal of SCells may be performed byRRC. At intra-NR handover, RRC may also add, remove, or reconfigureSCells for usage with the target PCell. When adding a new SCell,dedicated RRC signalling may be employed to send all required systeminformation of the SCell i.e. while in connected mode, wireless devicesmay not need to acquire broadcasted system information directly from theSCells.

The purpose of an RRC connection reconfiguration procedure may be tomodify an RRC connection, (e.g. to establish, modify and/or release RBs,to perform handover, to setup, modify, and/or release measurements, toadd, modify, and/or release SCells and cell groups). As part of the RRCconnection reconfiguration procedure, NAS dedicated information may betransferred from the network to the wireless device. TheRRCConnectionReconfiguration message may be a command to modify an RRCconnection. It may convey information for measurement configuration,mobility control, radio resource configuration (e.g. RBs, MAC mainconfiguration and physical channel configuration) comprising anyassociated dedicated NAS information and security configuration. If thereceived RRC Connection Reconfiguration message includes thesCellToReleaseList, the wireless device may perform an SCell release. Ifthe received RRC Connection Reconfiguration message includes thesCellToAddModList, the wireless device may perform SCell additions ormodification.

An RRC connection establishment (or reestablishment, resume) proceduremay be to establish (or reestablish, resume) an RRC connection. an RRCconnection establishment procedure may comprise SRB1 establishment. TheRRC connection establishment procedure may be used to transfer theinitial NAS dedicated information/message from a wireless device toE-UTRAN. The RRCConnectionReestablishment message may be used tore-establish SRB1.

A measurement report procedure may be to transfer measurement resultsfrom a wireless device to NG-RAN. The wireless device may initiate ameasurement report procedure after successful security activation. Ameasurement report message may be employed to transmit measurementresults.

The wireless device 110 may comprise at least one communicationinterface 310 (e.g. a wireless modem, an antenna, and/or the like), atleast one processor 314, and at least one set of program codeinstructions 316 stored in non-transitory memory 315 and executable bythe at least one processor 314. The wireless device 110 may furthercomprise at least one of at least one speaker/microphone 311, at leastone keypad 312, at least one display/touchpad 313, at least one powersource 317, at least one global positioning system (GPS) chipset 318,and other peripherals 319.

The processor 314 of the wireless device 110, the processor 321A of thebase station 1 120A, and/or the processor 321B of the base station 2120B may comprise at least one of a general-purpose processor, a digitalsignal processor (DSP), a controller, a microcontroller, an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array(FPGA) and/or other programmable logic device, discrete gate and/ortransistor logic, discrete hardware components, and the like. Theprocessor 314 of the wireless device 110, the processor 321A in basestation 1 120A, and/or the processor 321B in base station 2 120B mayperform at least one of signal coding/processing, data processing, powercontrol, input/output processing, and/or any other functionality thatmay enable the wireless device 110, the base station 1 120A and/or thebase station 2 120B to operate in a wireless environment.

The processor 314 of the wireless device 110 may be connected to thespeaker/microphone 311, the keypad 312, and/or the display/touchpad 313.The processor 314 may receive user input data from and/or provide useroutput data to the speaker/microphone 311, the keypad 312, and/or thedisplay/touchpad 313. The processor 314 in the wireless device 110 mayreceive power from the power source 317 and/or may be configured todistribute the power to the other components in the wireless device 110.The power source 317 may comprise at least one of one or more dry cellbatteries, solar cells, fuel cells, and the like. The processor 314 maybe connected to the GPS chipset 318. The GPS chipset 318 may beconfigured to provide geographic location information of the wirelessdevice 110.

The processor 314 of the wireless device 110 may further be connected toother peripherals 319, which may comprise one or more software and/orhardware modules that provide additional features and/orfunctionalities. For example, the peripherals 319 may comprise at leastone of an accelerometer, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera, auniversal serial bus (USB) port, a hands-free headset, a frequencymodulated (FM) radio unit, a media player, an Internet browser, and thelike.

The communication interface 320A of the base station 1, 120A, and/or thecommunication interface 320B of the base station 2, 120B, may beconfigured to communicate with the communication interface 310 of thewireless device 110 via a wireless link 330A and/or a wireless link 330Brespectively. In an example, the communication interface 320A of thebase station 1, 120A, may communicate with the communication interface320B of the base station 2 and other RAN and core network nodes.

The wireless link 330A and/or the wireless link 330B may comprise atleast one of a bi-directional link and/or a directional link. Thecommunication interface 310 of the wireless device 110 may be configuredto communicate with the communication interface 320A of the base station1 120A and/or with the communication interface 320B of the base station2 120B. The base station 1 120A and the wireless device 110 and/or thebase station 2 120B and the wireless device 110 may be configured tosend and receive transport blocks via the wireless link 330A and/or viathe wireless link 330B, respectively. The wireless link 330A and/or thewireless link 330B may employ at least one frequency carrier. Accordingto some of various aspects of embodiments, transceiver(s) may beemployed. A transceiver may be a device that comprises both atransmitter and a receiver. Transceivers may be employed in devices suchas wireless devices, base stations, relay nodes, and/or the like.Example embodiments for radio technology implemented in thecommunication interface 310, 320A, 320B and the wireless link 330A, 330Bare illustrated in FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B, FIG. 4C, FIG. 4D, FIG. 6, FIG. 7A,FIG. 7B, FIG. 8, and associated text.

In an example, other nodes in a wireless network (e.g. AMF, UPF, SMF,etc) may comprise one or more communication interfaces, one or moreprocessors, and memory storing instructions.

A node (e.g. wireless device, base station, AMF, SMF, UPF, servers,switches, antennas, and/or the like) may comprise one or moreprocessors, and memory storing instructions that when executed by theone or more processors causes the node to perform certain processesand/or functions. Example embodiments may enable operation ofsingle-carrier and/or multi-carrier communications. Other exampleembodiments may comprise a non-transitory tangible computer readablemedia comprising instructions executable by one or more processors tocause operation of single-carrier and/or multi-carrier communications.Yet other example embodiments may comprise an article of manufacturethat comprises a non-transitory tangible computer readablemachine-accessible medium having instructions encoded thereon forenabling programmable hardware to cause a node to enable operation ofsingle-carrier and/or multi-carrier communications. The node may includeprocessors, memory, interfaces, and/or the like.

An interface may comprise at least one of a hardware interface, afirmware interface, a software interface, and/or a combination thereof.The hardware interface may comprise connectors, wires, electronicdevices such as drivers, amplifiers, and/or the like. The softwareinterface may comprise code stored in a memory device to implementprotocol(s), protocol layers, communication drivers, device drivers,combinations thereof, and/or the like. The firmware interface maycomprise a combination of embedded hardware and code stored in and/or incommunication with a memory device to implement connections, electronicdevice operations, protocol(s), protocol layers, communication drivers,device drivers, hardware operations, combinations thereof, and/or thelike.

FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B, FIG. 4C and FIG. 4D are example diagrams for uplinkand downlink signal transmission as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. FIG. 4A shows an example uplink transmitter forat least one physical channel A baseband signal representing a physicaluplink shared channel may perform one or more functions. The one or morefunctions may comprise at least one of: scrambling; modulation ofscrambled bits to generate complex-valued symbols; mapping of thecomplex-valued modulation symbols onto one or several transmissionlayers; transform precoding to generate complex-valued symbols;precoding of the complex-valued symbols; mapping of precodedcomplex-valued symbols to resource elements; generation ofcomplex-valued time-domain Single Carrier-Frequency Division MultipleAccess (SC-FDMA) or CP-OFDM signal for an antenna port; and/or the like.In an example, when transform precoding is enabled, a SC-FDMA signal foruplink transmission may be generated. In an example, when transformprecoding is not enabled, an CP-OFDM signal for uplink transmission maybe generated by FIG. 4A. These functions are illustrated as examples andit is anticipated that other mechanisms may be implemented in variousembodiments.

An example structure for modulation and up-conversion to the carrierfrequency of the complex-valued SC-FDMA or CP-OFDM baseband signal foran antenna port and/or the complex-valued Physical Random Access CHannel(PRACH) baseband signal is shown in FIG. 4B. Filtering may be employedprior to transmission.

An example structure for downlink transmissions is shown in FIG. 4C. Thebaseband signal representing a downlink physical channel may perform oneor more functions. The one or more functions may comprise: scrambling ofcoded bits in a codeword to be transmitted on a physical channel;modulation of scrambled bits to generate complex-valued modulationsymbols; mapping of the complex-valued modulation symbols onto one orseveral transmission layers; precoding of the complex-valued modulationsymbols on a layer for transmission on the antenna ports; mapping ofcomplex-valued modulation symbols for an antenna port to resourceelements; generation of complex-valued time-domain OFDM signal for anantenna port; and/or the like. These functions are illustrated asexamples and it is anticipated that other mechanisms may be implementedin various embodiments.

In an example, a gNB may transmit a first symbol and a second symbol onan antenna port, to a wireless device. The wireless device may infer thechannel (e.g., fading gain, multipath delay, etc.) for conveying thesecond symbol on the antenna port, from the channel for conveying thefirst symbol on the antenna port. In an example, a first antenna portand a second antenna port may be quasi co-located if one or morelarge-scale properties of the channel over which a first symbol on thefirst antenna port is conveyed may be inferred from the channel overwhich a second symbol on a second antenna port is conveyed. The one ormore large-scale properties may comprise at least one of: delay spread;doppler spread; doppler shift; average gain; average delay; and/orspatial Receiving (Rx) parameters.

An example modulation and up-conversion to the carrier frequency of thecomplex-valued OFDM baseband signal for an antenna port is shown in FIG.4D. Filtering may be employed prior to transmission.

FIG. 5A is a diagram of an example uplink channel mapping and exampleuplink physical signals. FIG. 5B is a diagram of an example downlinkchannel mapping and a downlink physical signals. In an example, aphysical layer may provide one or more information transfer services toa MAC and/or one or more higher layers. For example, the physical layermay provide the one or more information transfer services to the MAC viaone or more transport channels. An information transfer service mayindicate how and with what characteristics data are transferred over theradio interface.

In an example embodiment, a radio network may comprise one or moredownlink and/or uplink transport channels. For example, a diagram inFIG. 5A shows example uplink transport channels comprising Uplink-SharedCHannel (UL-SCH) 501 and Random Access CHannel (RACH) 502. A diagram inFIG. 5B shows example downlink transport channels comprisingDownlink-Shared CHannel (DL-SCH) 511, Paging CHannel (PCH) 512, andBroadcast CHannel (BCH) 513. A transport channel may be mapped to one ormore corresponding physical channels. For example, UL-SCH 501 may bemapped to Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH) 503. RACH 502 may bemapped to PRACH 505. DL-SCH 511 and PCH 512 may be mapped to PhysicalDownlink Shared CHannel (PDSCH) 514. BCH 513 may be mapped to PhysicalBroadcast CHannel (PBCH) 516.

There may be one or more physical channels without a correspondingtransport channel The one or more physical channels may be employed forUplink Control Information (UCI) 509 and/or Downlink Control Information(DCI) 517. For example, Physical Uplink Control CHannel (PUCCH) 504 maycarry UCI 509 from a UE to a base station. For example, PhysicalDownlink Control CHannel (PDCCH) 515 may carry DCI 517 from a basestation to a UE. NR may support UCI 509 multiplexing in PUSCH 503 whenUCI 509 and PUSCH 503 transmissions may coincide in a slot at least inpart. The UCI 509 may comprise at least one of CSI, Acknowledgement(ACK)/Negative Acknowledgement (NACK), and/or scheduling request. TheDCI 517 on PDCCH 515 may indicate at least one of following: one or moredownlink assignments and/or one or more uplink scheduling grants

In uplink, a UE may transmit one or more Reference Signals (RSs) to abase station. For example, the one or more RSs may be at least one ofDemodulation-RS (DM-RS) 506, Phase Tracking-RS (PT-RS) 507, and/orSounding RS (SRS) 508. In downlink, a base station may transmit (e.g.,unicast, multicast, and/or broadcast) one or more RSs to a UE. Forexample, the one or more RSs may be at least one of PrimarySynchronization Signal (PSS)/Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) 521,CSI-RS 522, DM-RS 523, and/or PT-RS 524.

In an example, a UE may transmit one or more uplink DM-RSs 506 to a basestation for channel estimation, for example, for coherent demodulationof one or more uplink physical channels (e.g., PUSCH 503 and/or PUCCH504). For example, a UE may transmit a base station at least one uplinkDM-RS 506 with PUSCH 503 and/or PUCCH 504, wherein the at least oneuplink DM-RS 506 may be spanning a same frequency range as acorresponding physical channel In an example, a base station mayconfigure a UE with one or more uplink DM-RS configurations. At leastone DM-RS configuration may support a front-loaded DM-RS pattern. Afront-loaded DM-RS may be mapped over one or more OFDM symbols (e.g., 1or 2 adjacent OFDM symbols). One or more additional uplink DM-RS may beconfigured to transmit at one or more symbols of a PUSCH and/or PUCCH. Abase station may semi-statistically configure a UE with a maximum numberof front-loaded DM-RS symbols for PUSCH and/or PUCCH. For example, a UEmay schedule a single-symbol DM-RS and/or double symbol DM-RS based on amaximum number of front-loaded DM-RS symbols, wherein a base station mayconfigure the UE with one or more additional uplink DM-RS for PUSCHand/or PUCCH. A new radio network may support, e.g., at least forCP-OFDM, a common DM-RS structure for DL and UL, wherein a DM-RSlocation, DM-RS pattern, and/or scrambling sequence may be same ordifferent.

In an example, whether uplink PT-RS 507 is present or not may depend ona RRC configuration. For example, a presence of uplink PT-RS may beUE-specifically configured. For example, a presence and/or a pattern ofuplink PT-RS 507 in a scheduled resource may be UE-specificallyconfigured by a combination of RRC signaling and/or association with oneor more parameters employed for other purposes (e.g., Modulation andCoding Scheme (MCS)) which may be indicated by DCI. When configured, adynamic presence of uplink PT-RS 507 may be associated with one or moreDCI parameters comprising at least MCS. A radio network may supportplurality of uplink PT-RS densities defined in time/frequency domain.When present, a frequency domain density may be associated with at leastone configuration of a scheduled bandwidth. A UE may assume a sameprecoding for a DMRS port and a PT-RS port. A number of PT-RS ports maybe fewer than a number of DM-RS ports in a scheduled resource. Forexample, uplink PT-RS 507 may be confined in the scheduledtime/frequency duration for a UE.

In an example, a UE may transmit SRS 508 to a base station for channelstate estimation to support uplink channel dependent scheduling and/orlink adaptation. For example, SRS 508 transmitted by a UE may allow fora base station to estimate an uplink channel state at one or moredifferent frequencies. A base station scheduler may employ an uplinkchannel state to assign one or more resource blocks of good quality foran uplink PUSCH transmission from a UE. A base station maysemi-statistically configure a UE with one or more SRS resource sets.For an SRS resource set, a base station may configure a UE with one ormore SRS resources. An SRS resource set applicability may be configuredby a higher layer (e.g., RRC) parameter. For example, when a higherlayer parameter indicates beam management, a SRS resource in each of oneor more SRS resource sets may be transmitted at a time instant. A UE maytransmit one or more SRS resources in different SRS resource setssimultaneously. A new radio network may support aperiodic, periodicand/or semi-persistent SRS transmissions. A UE may transmit SRSresources based on one or more trigger types, wherein the one or moretrigger types may comprise higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC) and/or oneor more DCI formats (e.g., at least one DCI format may be employed for aUE to select at least one of one or more configured SRS resource sets.An SRS trigger type 0 may refer to an SRS triggered based on a higherlayer signaling. An SRS trigger type 1 may refer to an SRS triggeredbased on one or more DCI formats. In an example, when PUSCH 503 and SRS508 are transmitted in a same slot, a UE may be configured to transmitSRS 508 after a transmission of PUSCH 503 and corresponding uplink DM-RS506.

In an example, a base station may semi-statistically configure a UE withone or more SRS configuration parameters indicating at least one offollowing: a SRS resource configuration identifier, a number of SRSports, time domain behavior of SRS resource configuration (e.g., anindication of periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic SRS), slot(mini-slot, and/or subframe) level periodicity and/or offset for aperiodic and/or aperiodic SRS resource, a number of OFDM symbols in aSRS resource, starting OFDM symbol of a SRS resource, a SRS bandwidth, afrequency hopping bandwidth, a cyclic shift, and/or a SRS sequence ID.

In an example, in a time domain, an SS/PBCH block may comprise one ormore OFDM symbols (e.g., 4 OFDM symbols numbered in increasing orderfrom 0 to 3) within the SS/PBCH block. An SS/PBCH block may comprisePSS/SSS 521 and PBCH 516. In an example, in the frequency domain, anSS/PBCH block may comprise one or more contiguous subcarriers (e.g., 240contiguous subcarriers with the subcarriers numbered in increasing orderfrom 0 to 239) within the SS/PBCH block. For example, a PSS/SSS 521 mayoccupy 1 OFDM symbol and 127 subcarriers. For example, PBCH 516 may spanacross 3 OFDM symbols and 240 subcarriers. A UE may assume that one ormore SS/PBCH blocks transmitted with a same block index may be quasico-located, e.g., with respect to Doppler spread, Doppler shift, averagegain, average delay, and spatial Rx parameters. A UE may not assumequasi co-location for other SS/PBCH block transmissions. A periodicityof an SS/PBCH block may be configured by a radio network (e.g., by anRRC signaling) and one or more time locations where the SS/PBCH blockmay be sent may be determined by sub-carrier spacing. In an example, aUE may assume a band-specific sub-carrier spacing for an SS/PBCH blockunless a radio network has configured a UE to assume a differentsub-carrier spacing.

In an example, downlink CSI-RS 522 may be employed for a UE to acquirechannel state information. A radio network may support periodic,aperiodic, and/or semi-persistent transmission of downlink CSI-RS 522.For example, a base station may semi-statistically configure and/orreconfigure a UE with periodic transmission of downlink CSI-RS 522. Aconfigured CSI-RS resources may be activated ad/or deactivated. Forsemi-persistent transmission, an activation and/or deactivation ofCSI-RS resource may be triggered dynamically. In an example, CSI-RSconfiguration may comprise one or more parameters indicating at least anumber of antenna ports. For example, a base station may configure a UEwith 32 ports. A base station may semi-statistically configure a UE withone or more CSI-RS resource sets. One or more CSI-RS resources may beallocated from one or more CSI-RS resource sets to one or more UEs. Forexample, a base station may semi-statistically configure one or moreparameters indicating CSI RS resource mapping, for example, time-domainlocation of one or more CSI-RS resources, a bandwidth of a CSI-RSresource, and/or a periodicity. In an example, a UE may be configured toemploy a same OFDM symbols for downlink CSI-RS 522 and Control ResourceSet (CORESET) when the downlink CSI-RS 522 and CORESET are spatiallyquasi co-located and resource elements associated with the downlinkCSI-RS 522 are the outside of PRBs configured for CORESET. In anexample, a UE may be configured to employ a same OFDM symbols fordownlink CSI-RS 522 and SSB/PBCH when the downlink CSI-RS 522 andSSB/PBCH are spatially quasi co-located and resource elements associatedwith the downlink CSI-RS 522 are the outside of PRBs configured forSSB/PBCH.

In an example, a UE may transmit one or more downlink DM-RSs 523 to abase station for channel estimation, for example, for coherentdemodulation of one or more downlink physical channels (e.g., PDSCH514). For example, a radio network may support one or more variableand/or configurable DM-RS patterns for data demodulation. At least onedownlink DM-RS configuration may support a front-loaded DM-RS pattern. Afront-loaded DM-RS may be mapped over one or more OFDM symbols (e.g., 1or 2 adjacent OFDM symbols). A base station may semi-statisticallyconfigure a UE with a maximum number of front-loaded DM-RS symbols forPDSCH 514. For example, a DM-RS configuration may support one or moreDM-RS ports. For example, for single user-MIMO, a DM-RS configurationmay support at least 8 orthogonal downlink DM-RS ports. For example, formultiuser-MIMO, a DM-RS configuration may support 12 orthogonal downlinkDM-RS ports. A radio network may support, e.g., at least for CP-OFDM, acommon DM-RS structure for DL and UL, wherein a DM-RS location, DM-RSpattern, and/or scrambling sequence may be same or different.

In an example, whether downlink PT-RS 524 is present or not may dependon a RRC configuration. For example, a presence of downlink PT-RS 524may be UE-specifically configured. For example, a presence and/or apattern of downlink PT-RS 524 in a scheduled resource may beUE-specifically configured by a combination of RRC signaling and/orassociation with one or more parameters employed for other purposes(e.g., MCS) which may be indicated by DCI. When configured, a dynamicpresence of downlink PT-RS 524 may be associated with one or more DCIparameters comprising at least MCS. A radio network may supportplurality of PT-RS densities defined in time/frequency domain. Whenpresent, a frequency domain density may be associated with at least oneconfiguration of a scheduled bandwidth. A UE may assume a same precodingfor a DMRS port and a PT-RS port. A number of PT-RS ports may be fewerthan a number of DM-RS ports in a scheduled resource. For example,downlink PT-RS 524 may be confined in the scheduled time/frequencyduration for a UE.

FIG. 6 is a diagram depicting an example transmission time and receptiontime for a carrier as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. A multicarrier OFDM communication system may include one ormore carriers, for example, ranging from 1 to 32 carriers, in case ofcarrier aggregation, or ranging from 1 to 64 carriers, in case of dualconnectivity. Different radio frame structures may be supported (e.g.,for FDD and for TDD duplex mechanisms). FIG. 6 shows an example frametiming. Downlink and uplink transmissions may be organized into radioframes 601. In this example, radio frame duration is 10 ms. In thisexample, a 10 ms radio frame 601 may be divided into ten equally sizedsubframes 602 with 1 ms duration. Subframe(s) may comprise one or moreslots (e.g. slots 603 and 605) depending on subcarrier spacing and/or CPlength. For example, a subframe with 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz,240 kHz and 480 kHz subcarrier spacing may comprise one, two, four,eight, sixteen and thirty-two slots, respectively. In FIG. 6, a subframemay be divided into two equally sized slots 603 with 0.5 ms duration.For example, 10 subframes may be available for downlink transmission and10 subframes may be available for uplink transmissions in a 10 msinterval. Uplink and downlink transmissions may be separated in thefrequency domain. Slot(s) may include a plurality of OFDM symbols 604.The number of OFDM symbols 604 in a slot 605 may depend on the cyclicprefix length. For example, a slot may be 14 OFDM symbols for the samesubcarrier spacing of up to 480 kHz with normal CP. A slot may be 12OFDM symbols for the same subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz with extended CP.A slot may contain downlink, uplink, or a downlink part and an uplinkpart and/or alike.

FIG. 7A is a diagram depicting example sets of OFDM subcarriers as peran aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the example, agNB may communicate with a wireless device with a carrier with anexample channel bandwidth 700. Arrow(s) in the diagram may depict asubcarrier in a multicarrier OFDM system. The OFDM system may usetechnology such as OFDM technology, SC-FDMA technology, and/or the like.In an example, an arrow 701 shows a subcarrier transmitting informationsymbols. In an example, a subcarrier spacing 702, between two contiguoussubcarriers in a carrier, may be any one of 15 KHz, 30 KHz, 60 KHz, 120KHz, 240 KHz etc. In an example, different subcarrier spacing maycorrespond to different transmission numerologies. In an example, atransmission numerology may comprise at least: a numerology index; avalue of subcarrier spacing; a type of cyclic prefix (CP). In anexample, a gNB may transmit to/receive from a UE on a number ofsubcarriers 703 in a carrier. In an example, a bandwidth occupied by anumber of subcarriers 703 (transmission bandwidth) may be smaller thanthe channel bandwidth 700 of a carrier, due to guard band 704 and 705.In an example, a guard band 704 and 705 may be used to reduceinterference to and from one or more neighbor carriers. A number ofsubcarriers (transmission bandwidth) in a carrier may depend on thechannel bandwidth of the carrier and the subcarrier spacing. Forexample, a transmission bandwidth, for a carrier with 20 MHz channelbandwidth and 15 KHz subcarrier spacing, may be in number of 1024subcarriers.

In an example, a gNB and a wireless device may communicate with multipleCCs when configured with CA. In an example, different component carriersmay have different bandwidth and/or subcarrier spacing, if CA issupported. In an example, a gNB may transmit a first type of service toa UE on a first component carrier. The gNB may transmit a second type ofservice to the UE on a second component carrier. Different type ofservices may have different service requirement (e.g., data rate,latency, reliability), which may be suitable for transmission viadifferent component carrier having different subcarrier spacing and/orbandwidth. FIG. 7B shows an example embodiment. A first componentcarrier may comprise a first number of subcarriers 706 with a firstsubcarrier spacing 709. A second component carrier may comprise a secondnumber of subcarriers 707 with a second subcarrier spacing 710. A thirdcomponent carrier may comprise a third number of subcarriers 708 with athird subcarrier spacing 711. Carriers in a multicarrier OFDMcommunication system may be contiguous carriers, non-contiguouscarriers, or a combination of both contiguous and non-contiguouscarriers.

FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting OFDM radio resources as per an aspect ofan embodiment of the present disclosure. In an example, a carrier mayhave a transmission bandwidth 801. In an example, a resource grid may bein a structure of frequency domain 802 and time domain 803. In anexample, a resource grid may comprise a first number of OFDM symbols ina subframe and a second number of resource blocks, starting from acommon resource block indicated by higher-layer signaling (e.g. RRCsignaling), for a transmission numerology and a carrier. In an example,in a resource grid, a resource unit identified by a subcarrier index anda symbol index may be a resource element 805. In an example, a subframemay comprise a first number of OFDM symbols 807 depending on anumerology associated with a carrier. For example, when a subcarrierspacing of a numerology of a carrier is 15 KHz, a subframe may have 14OFDM symbols for a carrier. When a subcarrier spacing of a numerology is30 KHz, a subframe may have 28 OFDM symbols. When a subcarrier spacingof a numerology is 60 Khz, a subframe may have 56 OFDM symbols, etc. Inan example, a second number of resource blocks comprised in a resourcegrid of a carrier may depend on a bandwidth and a numerology of thecarrier.

As shown in FIG. 8, a resource block 806 may comprise 12 subcarriers. Inan example, multiple resource blocks may be grouped into a ResourceBlock Group (RBG) 804. In an example, a size of a RBG may depend on atleast one of: a RRC message indicating a RBG size configuration; a sizeof a carrier bandwidth; or a size of a bandwidth part of a carrier. Inan example, a carrier may comprise multiple bandwidth parts. A firstbandwidth part of a carrier may have different frequency location and/orbandwidth from a second bandwidth part of the carrier.

In an example, a gNB may transmit a downlink control informationcomprising a downlink or uplink resource block assignment to a wirelessdevice. A base station may transmit to or receive from, a wirelessdevice, data packets (e.g. transport blocks) scheduled and transmittedvia one or more resource blocks and one or more slots according toparameters in a downlink control information and/or RRC message(s). Inan example, a starting symbol relative to a first slot of the one ormore slots may be indicated to the wireless device. In an example, a gNBmay transmit to or receive from, a wireless device, data packetsscheduled on one or more RBGs and one or more slots.

In an example, a gNB may transmit a downlink control informationcomprising a downlink assignment to a wireless device via one or morePDCCHs. The downlink assignment may comprise parameters indicating atleast modulation and coding format; resource allocation; and/or HARQinformation related to DL-SCH. In an example, a resource allocation maycomprise parameters of resource block allocation; and/or slotallocation. In an example, a gNB may dynamically allocate resources to awireless device via a Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI)on one or more PDCCHs. The wireless device may monitor the one or morePDCCHs in order to find possible allocation when its downlink receptionis enabled. The wireless device may receive one or more downlink datapackage on one or more PDSCH scheduled by the one or more PDCCHs, whensuccessfully detecting the one or more PDCCHs.

In an example, a gNB may allocate Configured Scheduling (CS) resourcesfor down link transmission to a wireless device. The gNB may transmitone or more RRC messages indicating a periodicity of the CS grant. ThegNB may transmit a DCI via a PDCCH addressed to a ConfiguredScheduling-RNTI (CS-RNTI) activating the CS resources. The DCI maycomprise parameters indicating that the downlink grant is a CS grant.The CS grant may be implicitly reused according to the periodicitydefined by the one or more RRC messages, until deactivated.

In an example, a gNB may transmit a downlink control informationcomprising an uplink grant to a wireless device via one or more PDCCHs.The uplink grant may comprise parameters indicating at least modulationand coding format; resource allocation; and/or HARQ information relatedto UL-SCH. In an example, a resource allocation may comprise parametersof resource block allocation; and/or slot allocation. In an example, agNB may dynamically allocate resources to a wireless device via a C-RNTIon one or more PDCCHs. The wireless device may monitor the one or morePDCCHs in order to find possible resource allocation. The wirelessdevice may transmit one or more uplink data package via one or morePUSCH scheduled by the one or more PDCCHs, when successfully detectingthe one or more PDCCHs.

In an example, a gNB may allocate CS resources for uplink datatransmission to a wireless device. The gNB may transmit one or more RRCmessages indicating a periodicity of the CS grant. The gNB may transmita DCI via a PDCCH addressed to a CS-RNTI activating the CS resources.The DCI may comprise parameters indicating that the uplink grant is a CSgrant. The CS grant may be implicitly reused according to theperiodicity defined by the one or more RRC message, until deactivated.

In an example, a base station may transmit DCI/control signaling viaPDCCH. The DCI may take a format in a plurality of formats. A DCI maycomprise downlink and/or uplink scheduling information (e.g., resourceallocation information, HARQ related parameters, MCS), request for CSI(e.g., aperiodic CQI reports), request for SRS, uplink power controlcommands for one or more cells, one or more timing information (e.g., TBtransmission/reception timing, HARQ feedback timing, etc.), etc. In anexample, a DCI may indicate an uplink grant comprising transmissionparameters for one or more transport blocks. In an example, a DCI mayindicate downlink assignment indicating parameters for receiving one ormore transport blocks. In an example, a DCI may be used by base stationto initiate a contention-free random access at the wireless device. Inan example, the base station may transmit a DCI comprising slot formatindicator (SFI) notifying a slot format. In an example, the base stationmay transmit a DCI comprising pre-emption indication notifying thePRB(s) and/or OFDM symbol(s) where a UE may assume no transmission isintended for the UE. In an example, the base station may transmit a DCIfor group power control of PUCCH or PUSCH or SRS. In an example, a DCImay correspond to an RNTI. In an example, the wireless device may obtainan RNTI in response to completing the initial access (e.g., C-RNTI). Inan example, the base station may configure an RNTI for the wireless(e.g., CS-RNTI, TPC-CS-RNTI, TPC-PUCCH-RNTI, TPC-PUSCH-RNTI,TPC-SRS-RNTI). In an example, the wireless device may compute an RNTI(e.g., the wireless device may compute RA-RNTI based on resources usedfor transmission of a preamble). In an example, an RNTI may have apre-configured value (e.g., P-RNTI or SI-RNTI). In an example, awireless device may monitor a group common search space which may beused by base station for transmitting DCIs that are intended for a groupof UEs. In an example, a group common DCI may correspond to an RNTIwhich is commonly configured for a group of UEs. In an example, awireless device may monitor a UE-specific search space. In an example, aUE specific DCI may correspond to an RNTI configured for the wirelessdevice.

A NR system may support a single beam operation and/or a multi-beamoperation. In a multi-beam operation, a base station may perform adownlink beam sweeping to provide coverage for common control channelsand/or downlink SS blocks, which may comprise at least a PSS, a SSS,and/or PBCH. A wireless device may measure quality of a beam pair linkusing one or more RSs. One or more SS blocks, or one or more CSI-RSresources, associated with a CSI-RS resource index (CRI), or one or moreDM-RSs of PBCH, may be used as RS for measuring quality of a beam pairlink. Quality of a beam pair link may be defined as a reference signalreceived power (RSRP) value, or a reference signal received quality(RSRQ) value, and/or a CSI value measured on RS resources. The basestation may indicate whether an RS resource, used for measuring a beampair link quality, is quasi-co-located (QCLed) with DM-RSs of a controlchannel. A RS resource and DM-RSs of a control channel may be calledQCLed when a channel characteristics from a transmission on an RS to awireless device, and that from a transmission on a control channel to awireless device, are similar or same under a configured criterion. In amulti-beam operation, a wireless device may perform an uplink beamsweeping to access a cell.

In an example, a wireless device may be configured to monitor PDCCH onone or more beam pair links simultaneously depending on a capability ofa wireless device. This may increase robustness against beam pair linkblocking. A base station may transmit one or more messages to configurea wireless device to monitor PDCCH on one or more beam pair links indifferent PDCCH OFDM symbols. For example, a base station may transmithigher layer signaling (e.g. RRC signaling) or MAC CE comprisingparameters related to the Rx beam setting of a wireless device formonitoring PDCCH on one or more beam pair links. A base station maytransmit indication of spatial QCL assumption between an DL RS antennaport(s) (for example, cell-specific CSI-RS, or wireless device-specificCSI-RS, or SS block, or PBCH with or without DM-RSs of PBCH), and DL RSantenna port(s) for demodulation of DL control channel Signaling forbeam indication for a PDCCH may be MAC CE signaling, or RRC signaling,or DCI signaling, or specification-transparent and/or implicit method,and combination of these signaling methods.

For reception of unicast DL data channel, a base station may indicatespatial QCL parameters between DL RS antenna port(s) and DM-RS antennaport(s) of DL data channel. The base station may transmit DCI (e.g.downlink grants) comprising information indicating the RS antennaport(s). The information may indicate RS antenna port(s) which may beQCL-ed with the DM-RS antenna port(s). Different set of DM-RS antennaport(s) for a DL data channel may be indicated as QCL with different setof the RS antenna port(s).

FIG. 9A is an example of beam sweeping in a DL channel In anRRC_INACTIVE state or RRC_IDLE state, a wireless device may assume thatSS blocks form an SS burst 940, and an SS burst set 950. The SS burstset 950 may have a given periodicity. For example, in a multi-beamoperation, a base station 120 may transmit SS blocks in multiple beams,together forming a SS burst 940. One or more SS blocks may betransmitted on one beam. If multiple SS bursts 940 are transmitted withmultiple beams, SS bursts together may form SS burst set 950.

A wireless device may further use CSI-RS in the multi-beam operation forestimating a beam quality of a links between a wireless device and abase station. A beam may be associated with a CSI-RS. For example, awireless device may, based on a RSRP measurement on CSI-RS, report abeam index, as indicated in a CRI for downlink beam selection, andassociated with a RSRP value of a beam. A CSI-RS may be transmitted on aCSI-RS resource including at least one of one or more antenna ports, oneor more time or frequency radio resources. A CSI-RS resource may beconfigured in a cell-specific way by common RRC signaling, or in awireless device-specific way by dedicated RRC signaling, and/or L1/L2signaling. Multiple wireless devices covered by a cell may measure acell-specific CSI-RS resource. A dedicated subset of wireless devicescovered by a cell may measure a wireless device-specific CSI-RSresource.

A CSI-RS resource may be transmitted periodically, or using aperiodictransmission, or using a multi-shot or semi-persistent transmission. Forexample, in a periodic transmission in FIG. 9A, a base station 120 maytransmit configured CSI-RS resources 940 periodically using a configuredperiodicity in a time domain. In an aperiodic transmission, a configuredCSI-RS resource may be transmitted in a dedicated time slot. In amulti-shot or semi-persistent transmission, a configured CSI-RS resourcemay be transmitted within a configured period. Beams used for CSI-RStransmission may have different beam width than beams used for SS-blockstransmission.

FIG. 9B is an example of a beam management procedure in an example newradio network. A base station 120 and/or a wireless device 110 mayperform a downlink L1/L2 beam management procedure. One or more of thefollowing downlink L1/L2 beam management procedures may be performedwithin one or more wireless devices 110 and one or more base stations120. In an example, a P-1 procedure 910 may be used to enable thewireless device 110 to measure one or more Transmission (Tx) beamsassociated with the base station 120 to support a selection of a firstset of Tx beams associated with the base station 120 and a first set ofRx beam(s) associated with a wireless device 110. For beamforming at abase station 120, a base station 120 may sweep a set of different TXbeams. For beamforming at a wireless device 110, a wireless device 110may sweep a set of different Rx beams. In an example, a P-2 procedure920 may be used to enable a wireless device 110 to measure one or moreTx beams associated with a base station 120 to possibly change a firstset of Tx beams associated with a base station 120. A P-2 procedure 920may be performed on a possibly smaller set of beams for beam refinementthan in the P-1 procedure 910. A P-2 procedure 920 may be a special caseof a P-1 procedure 910. In an example, a P-3 procedure 930 may be usedto enable a wireless device 110 to measure at least one Tx beamassociated with a base station 120 to change a first set of Rx beamsassociated with a wireless device 110.

A wireless device 110 may transmit one or more beam management reportsto a base station 120. In one or more beam management reports, awireless device 110 may indicate some beam pair quality parameters,comprising at least, one or more beam identifications; RSRP; PrecodingMatrix Indicator (PMI)/Channel Quality Indicator (CQI)/Rank Indicator(RI) of a subset of configured beams. Based on one or more beammanagement reports, a base station 120 may transmit to a wireless device110 a signal indicating that one or more beam pair links are one or moreserving beams. A base station 120 may transmit PDCCH and PDSCH for awireless device 110 using one or more serving beams.

In an example embodiment, new radio network may support a BandwidthAdaptation (BA). In an example, receive and/or transmit bandwidthsconfigured by an UE employing a BA may not be large. For example, areceive and/or transmit bandwidths may not be as large as a bandwidth ofa cell. Receive and/or transmit bandwidths may be adjustable. Forexample, a UE may change receive and/or transmit bandwidths, e.g., toshrink during period of low activity to save power. For example, a UEmay change a location of receive and/or transmit bandwidths in afrequency domain, e.g. to increase scheduling flexibility. For example,a UE may change a subcarrier spacing, e.g. to allow different services.

In an example embodiment, a subset of a total cell bandwidth of a cellmay be referred to as a Bandwidth Part (BWP). A base station mayconfigure a UE with one or more BWPs to achieve a BA. For example, abase station may indicate, to a UE, which of the one or more(configured) BWPs is an active BWP.

FIG. 10 is an example diagram of 3 BWPs configured: BWP1 (1010 and 1050)with a width of 40 MHz and subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz; BWP2 (1020 and1040) with a width of 10 MHz and subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz; BWP3 1030with a width of 20 MHz and subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz.

In an example, a UE, configured for operation in one or more BWPs of acell, may be configured by one or more higher layers (e.g. RRC layer)for a cell a set of one or more BWPs (e.g., at most four BWPs) forreceptions by the UE (DL BWP set) in a DL bandwidth by at least oneparameter DL-BWP and a set of one or more BWPs (e.g., at most four BWPs)for transmissions by a UE (UL BWP set) in an UL bandwidth by at leastone parameter UL-BWP for a cell.

To enable BA on the PCell, a base station may configure a UE with one ormore UL and DL BWP pairs. To enable BA on SCells (e.g., in case of CA),a base station may configure a UE at least with one or more DL BWPs(e.g., there may be none in an UL).

In an example, an initial active DL BWP may be defined by at least oneof a location and number of contiguous PRBs, a subcarrier spacing, or acyclic prefix, for a control resource set for at least one common searchspace. For operation on the PCell, one or more higher layer parametersmay indicate at least one initial UL BWP for a random access procedure.If a UE is configured with a secondary carrier on a primary cell, the UEmay be configured with an initial BWP for random access procedure on asecondary carrier.

In an example, for unpaired spectrum operation, a UE may expect that acenter frequency for a DL BWP may be same as a center frequency for a ULBWP.

For example, for a DL BWP or an UL BWP in a set of one or more DL BWPsor one or more UL BWPs, respectively, a base statin maysemi-statistically configure a UE for a cell with one or more parametersindicating at least one of following: a subcarrier spacing; a cyclicprefix; a number of contiguous PRBs; an index in the set of one or moreDL BWPs and/or one or more UL BWPs; a link between a DL BWP and an ULBWP from a set of configured DL BWPs and UL BWPs; a DCI detection to aPDSCH reception timing; a PDSCH reception to a HARQ-ACK transmissiontiming value; a DCI detection to a PUSCH transmission timing value; anoffset of a first PRB of a DL bandwidth or an UL bandwidth,respectively, relative to a first PRB of a bandwidth.

In an example, for a DL BWP in a set of one or more DL BWPs on a PCell,a base station may configure a UE with one or more control resource setsfor at least one type of common search space and/or one UE-specificsearch space. For example, a base station may not configure a UE withouta common search space on a PCell, or on a PSCell, in an active DL BWP.

For an UL BWP in a set of one or more UL BWPs, a base station mayconfigure a UE with one or more resource sets for one or more PUCCHtransmissions.

In an example, if a DCI comprises a BWP indicator field, a BWP indicatorfield value may indicate an active DL BWP, from a configured DL BWP set,for one or more DL receptions. If a DCI comprises a BWP indicator field,a BWP indicator field value may indicate an active UL BWP, from aconfigured UL BWP set, for one or more UL transmissions.

In an example, for a PCell, a base station may semi-statisticallyconfigure a UE with a default DL BWP among configured DL BWPs. If a UEis not provided a default DL BWP, a default BWP may be an initial activeDL BWP.

In an example, a base station may configure a UE with a timer value fora PCell. For example, a UE may start a timer, referred to as BWPinactivity timer, when a UE detects a DCI indicating an active DL BWP,other than a default DL BWP, for a paired spectrum operation or when aUE detects a DCI indicating an active DL BWP or UL BWP, other than adefault DL BWP or UL BWP, for an unpaired spectrum operation. The UE mayincrement the timer by an interval of a first value (e.g., the firstvalue may be 1 millisecond or 0.5 milliseconds) if the UE does notdetect a DCI during the interval for a paired spectrum operation or foran unpaired spectrum operation. In an example, the timer may expire whenthe timer is equal to the timer value. A UE may switch to the default DLBWP from an active DL BWP when the timer expires.

In an example, a base station may semi-statistically configure a UE withone or more BWPs. A UE may switch an active BWP from a first BWP to asecond BWP in response to receiving a DCI indicating the second BWP asan active BWP and/or in response to an expiry of BWP inactivity timer(for example, the second BWP may be a default BWP). For example, FIG. 10is an example diagram of 3 BWPs configured, BWP1 (1010 and 1050), BWP2(1020 and 1040), and BWP3 (1030). BWP2 (1020 and 1040) may be a defaultBWP. BWP1 (1010) may be an initial active BWP. In an example, a UE mayswitch an active BWP from BWP1 1010 to BWP2 1020 in response to anexpiry of BWP inactivity timer. For example, a UE may switch an activeBWP from BWP2 1020 to BWP3 1030 in response to receiving a DCIindicating BWP3 1030 as an active BWP. Switching an active BWP from BWP31030 to BWP2 1040 and/or from BWP2 1040 to BWP1 1050 may be in responseto receiving a DCI indicating an active BWP and/or in response to anexpiry of BWP inactivity timer.

In an example, if a UE is configured for a secondary cell with a defaultDL BWP among configured DL BWPs and a timer value, UE procedures on asecondary cell may be same as on a primary cell using the timer valuefor the secondary cell and the default DL BWP for the secondary cell.

In an example, if a base station configures a UE with a first active DLBWP and a first active UL BWP on a secondary cell or carrier, a UE mayemploy an indicated DL BWP and an indicated UL BWP on a secondary cellas a respective first active DL BWP and first active UL BWP on asecondary cell or carrier.

FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B show packet flows employing a multi connectivity(e.g. dual connectivity, multi connectivity, tight interworking, and/orthe like). FIG. 11A is an example diagram of a protocol structure of awireless device 110 (e.g. UE) with CA and/or multi connectivity as peran aspect of an embodiment. FIG. 11B is an example diagram of a protocolstructure of multiple base stations with CA and/or multi connectivity asper an aspect of an embodiment. The multiple base stations may comprisea master node, MN 1130 (e.g. a master node, a master base station, amaster gNB, a master eNB, and/or the like) and a secondary node, SN 1150(e.g. a secondary node, a secondary base station, a secondary gNB, asecondary eNB, and/or the like). A master node 1130 and a secondary node1150 may co-work to communicate with a wireless device 110.

When multi connectivity is configured for a wireless device 110, thewireless device 110, which may support multiple reception/transmissionfunctions in an RRC connected state, may be configured to utilize radioresources provided by multiple schedulers of a multiple base stations.Multiple base stations may be inter-connected via a non-ideal or idealbackhaul (e.g. Xn interface, X2 interface, and/or the like). A basestation involved in multi connectivity for a certain wireless device mayperform at least one of two different roles: a base station may eitheract as a master base station or as a secondary base station. In multiconnectivity, a wireless device may be connected to one master basestation and one or more secondary base stations. In an example, a masterbase station (e.g. the MN 1130) may provide a master cell group (MCG)comprising a primary cell and/or one or more secondary cells for awireless device (e.g. the wireless device 110). A secondary base station(e.g. the SN 1150) may provide a secondary cell group (SCG) comprising aprimary secondary cell (PSCell) and/or one or more secondary cells for awireless device (e.g. the wireless device 110).

In multi connectivity, a radio protocol architecture that a beareremploys may depend on how a bearer is setup. In an example, threedifferent type of bearer setup options may be supported: an MCG bearer,an SCG bearer, and/or a split bearer. A wireless device mayreceive/transmit packets of an MCG bearer via one or more cells of theMCG, and/or may receive/transmits packets of an SCG bearer via one ormore cells of an SCG. Multi-connectivity may also be described as havingat least one bearer configured to use radio resources provided by thesecondary base station. Multi-connectivity may or may not beconfigured/implemented in some of the example embodiments.

In an example, a wireless device (e.g. Wireless Device 110) may transmitand/or receive: packets of an MCG bearer via an SDAP layer (e.g. SDAP1110), a PDCP layer (e.g. NR PDCP 1111), an RLC layer (e.g. MN RLC1114), and a MAC layer (e.g. MN MAC 1118); packets of a split bearer viaan SDAP layer (e.g. SDAP 1110), a PDCP layer (e.g. NR PDCP 1112), one ofa master or secondary RLC layer (e.g. MN RLC 1115, SN RLC 1116), and oneof a master or secondary MAC layer (e.g. MN MAC 1118, SN MAC 1119);and/or packets of an SCG bearer via an SDAP layer (e.g. SDAP 1110), aPDCP layer (e.g. NR PDCP 1113), an RLC layer (e.g. SN RLC 1117), and aMAC layer (e.g. MN MAC 1119).

In an example, a master base station (e.g. MN 1130) and/or a secondarybase station (e.g. SN 1150) may transmit/receive: packets of an MCGbearer via a master or secondary node SDAP layer (e.g. SDAP 1120, SDAP1140), a master or secondary node PDCP layer (e.g. NR PDCP 1121, NR PDCP1142), a master node RLC layer (e.g. MN RLC 1124, MN RLC 1125), and amaster node MAC layer (e.g. MN MAC 1128); packets of an SCG bearer via amaster or secondary node SDAP layer (e.g. SDAP 1120, SDAP 1140), amaster or secondary node PDCP layer (e.g. NR PDCP 1122, NR PDCP 1143), asecondary node RLC layer (e.g. SN RLC 1146, SN RLC 1147), and asecondary node MAC layer (e.g. SN MAC 1148); packets of a split bearervia a master or secondary node SDAP layer (e.g. SDAP 1120, SDAP 1140), amaster or secondary node PDCP layer (e.g. NR PDCP 1123, NR PDCP 1141), amaster or secondary node RLC layer (e.g. MN RLC 1126, SN RLC 1144, SNRLC 1145, MN RLC 1127), and a master or secondary node MAC layer (e.g.MN MAC 1128, SN MAC 1148).

In multi connectivity, a wireless device may configure multiple MACentities: one MAC entity (e.g. MN MAC 1118) for a master base station,and other MAC entities (e.g. SN MAC 1119) for a secondary base station.In multi-connectivity, a configured set of serving cells for a wirelessdevice may comprise two subsets: an MCG comprising serving cells of amaster base station, and SCGs comprising serving cells of a secondarybase station. For an SCG, one or more of following configurations may beapplied: at least one cell of an SCG has a configured UL CC and at leastone cell of a SCG, named as primary secondary cell (PSCell, PCell ofSCG, or sometimes called PCell), is configured with PUCCH resources;when an SCG is configured, there may be at least one SCG bearer or oneSplit bearer; upon detection of a physical layer problem or a randomaccess problem on a PSCell, or a number of NR RLC retransmissions hasbeen reached associated with the SCG, or upon detection of an accessproblem on a PSCell during a SCG addition or a SCG change: an RRCconnection re-establishment procedure may not be triggered, ULtransmissions towards cells of an SCG may be stopped, a master basestation may be informed by a wireless device of a SCG failure type, forsplit bearer, a DL data transfer over a master base station may bemaintained; an NR RLC acknowledged mode (AM) bearer may be configuredfor a split bearer; PCell and/or PSCell may not be de-activated; PSCellmay be changed with a SCG change procedure (e.g. with security keychange and a RACH procedure); and/or a bearer type change between asplit bearer and a SCG bearer or simultaneous configuration of a SCG anda split bearer may or may not supported.

With respect to interaction between a master base station and asecondary base stations for multi-connectivity, one or more of thefollowing may be applied: a master base station and/or a secondary basestation may maintain RRM measurement configurations of a wirelessdevice; a master base station may (e.g. based on received measurementreports, traffic conditions, and/or bearer types) may decide to requesta secondary base station to provide additional resources (e.g. servingcells) for a wireless device; upon receiving a request from a masterbase station, a secondary base station may create/modify a containerthat may result in configuration of additional serving cells for awireless device (or decide that the secondary base station has noresource available to do so); for a UE capability coordination, a masterbase station may provide (a part of) an AS configuration and UEcapabilities to a secondary base station; a master base station and asecondary base station may exchange information about a UE configurationby employing of RRC containers (inter-node messages) carried via Xnmessages; a secondary base station may initiate a reconfiguration of thesecondary base station existing serving cells (e.g. PUCCH towards thesecondary base station); a secondary base station may decide which cellis a PSCell within a SCG; a master base station may or may not changecontent of RRC configurations provided by a secondary base station; incase of a SCG addition and/or a SCG SCell addition, a master basestation may provide recent (or the latest) measurement results for SCGcell(s); a master base station and secondary base stations may receiveinformation of SFN and/or subframe offset of each other from OAM and/orvia an Xn interface, (e.g. for a purpose of DRX alignment and/oridentification of a measurement gap). In an example, when adding a newSCG SCell, dedicated RRC signaling may be used for sending requiredsystem information of a cell as for CA, except for a SFN acquired from aMIB of a PSCell of a SCG.

FIG. 12 is an example diagram of a random access procedure. One or moreevents may trigger a random access procedure. For example, one or moreevents may be at least one of following: initial access from RRC_IDLE,RRC connection re-establishment procedure, handover, DL or UL dataarrival during RRC_CONNECTED when UL synchronization status isnon-synchronised, transition from RRC_Inactive, and/or request for othersystem information. For example, a PDCCH order, a MAC entity, and/or abeam failure indication may initiate a random access procedure.

In an example embodiment, a random access procedure may be at least oneof a contention based random access procedure and a contention freerandom access procedure. For example, a contention based random accessprocedure may comprise, one or more Msg 1 1220 transmissions, one ormore Msg2 1230 transmissions, one or more Msg3 1240 transmissions, andcontention resolution 1250. For example, a contention free random accessprocedure may comprise one or more Msg 1 1220 transmissions and one ormore Msg2 1230 transmissions.

In an example, a base station may transmit (e.g., unicast, multicast, orbroadcast), to a UE, a RACH configuration 1210 via one or more beams.The RACH configuration 1210 may comprise one or more parametersindicating at least one of following: available set of PRACH resourcesfor a transmission of a random access preamble, initial preamble power(e.g., random access preamble initial received target power), an RSRPthreshold for a selection of a SS block and corresponding PRACHresource, a power-ramping factor (e.g., random access preamble powerramping step), random access preamble index, a maximum number ofpreamble transmission, preamble group A and group B, a threshold (e.g.,message size) to determine the groups of random access preambles, a setof one or more random access preambles for system information requestand corresponding PRACH resource(s), if any, a set of one or more randomaccess preambles for beam failure recovery request and correspondingPRACH resource(s), if any, a time window to monitor RA response(s), atime window to monitor response(s) on beam failure recovery request,and/or a contention resolution timer.

In an example, the Msg1 1220 may be one or more transmissions of arandom access preamble. For a contention based random access procedure,a UE may select a SS block with a RSRP above the RSRP threshold. Ifrandom access preambles group B exists, a UE may select one or morerandom access preambles from a group A or a group B depending on apotential Msg3 1240 size. If a random access preambles group B does notexist, a UE may select the one or more random access preambles from agroup A. A UE may select a random access preamble index randomly (e.g.with equal probability or a normal distribution) from one or more randomaccess preambles associated with a selected group. If a base stationsemi-statistically configures a UE with an association between randomaccess preambles and SS blocks, the UE may select a random accesspreamble index randomly with equal probability from one or more randomaccess preambles associated with a selected SS block and a selectedgroup.

For example, a UE may initiate a contention free random access procedurebased on a beam failure indication from a lower layer. For example, abase station may semi-statistically configure a UE with one or morecontention free PRACH resources for beam failure recovery requestassociated with at least one of SS blocks and/or CSI-RSs. If at leastone of SS blocks with a RSRP above a first RSRP threshold amongstassociated SS blocks or at least one of CSI-RSs with a RSRP above asecond RSRP threshold amongst associated CSI-RSs is available, a UE mayselect a random access preamble index corresponding to a selected SSblock or CSI-RS from a set of one or more random access preambles forbeam failure recovery request.

For example, a UE may receive, from a base station, a random accesspreamble index via PDCCH or RRC for a contention free random accessprocedure. If a base station does not configure a UE with at least onecontention free PRACH resource associated with SS blocks or CSI-RS, theUE may select a random access preamble index. If a base stationconfigures a UE with one or more contention free PRACH resourcesassociated with SS blocks and at least one SS block with a RSRP above afirst RSRP threshold amongst associated SS blocks is available, the UEmay select the at least one SS block and select a random access preamblecorresponding to the at least one SS block. If a base station configuresa UE with one or more contention free PRACH resources associated withCSI-RSs and at least one CSI-RS with a RSRP above a second RSPRthreshold amongst the associated CSI-RSs is available, the UE may selectthe at least one CSI-RS and select a random access preamblecorresponding to the at least one CSI-RS.

A UE may perform one or more Msg1 1220 transmissions by transmitting theselected random access preamble. For example, if a UE selects an SSblock and is configured with an association between one or more PRACHoccasions and one or more SS blocks, the UE may determine an PRACHoccasion from one or more PRACH occasions corresponding to a selected SSblock. For example, if a UE selects a CSI-RS and is configured with anassociation between one or more PRACH occasions and one or more CSI-RSs,the UE may determine a PRACH occasion from one or more PRACH occasionscorresponding to a selected CSI-RS. A UE may transmit, to a basestation, a selected random access preamble via a selected PRACHoccasions. A UE may determine a transmit power for a transmission of aselected random access preamble at least based on an initial preamblepower and a power-ramping factor. A UE may determine a RA-RNTIassociated with a selected PRACH occasions in which a selected randomaccess preamble is transmitted. For example, a UE may not determine aRA-RNTI for a beam failure recovery request. A UE may determine anRA-RNTI at least based on an index of a first OFDM symbol and an indexof a first slot of a selected PRACH occasions, and/or an uplink carrierindex for a transmission of Msg1 1220.

In an example, a UE may receive, from a base station, a random accessresponse, Msg 2 1230. A UE may start a time window (e.g., ra-ResponseWindow) to monitor a random access response. For beam failure recoveryrequest, a base station may configure a UE with a different time window(e.g., bfr-ResponseWindow) to monitor response on beam failure recoveryrequest. For example, a UE may start a time window (e.g.,ra-ResponseWindow or bfr-Response Window) at a start of a first PDCCHoccasion after a fixed duration of one or more symbols from an end of apreamble transmission. If a UE transmits multiple preambles, the UE maystart a time window at a start of a first PDCCH occasion after a fixedduration of one or more symbols from an end of a first preambletransmission. A UE may monitor a PDCCH of a cell for at least one randomaccess response identified by a RA-RNTI or for at least one response tobeam failure recovery request identified by a C-RNTI while a timer for atime window is running

In an example, a UE may consider a reception of random access responsesuccessful if at least one random access response comprises a randomaccess preamble identifier corresponding to a random access preambletransmitted by the UE. A UE may consider the contention free randomaccess procedure successfully completed if a reception of random accessresponse is successful. If a contention free random access procedure istriggered for a beam failure recovery request, a UE may consider acontention free random access procedure successfully complete if a PDCCHtransmission is addressed to a C-RNTI. In an example, if at least onerandom access response comprises only a random access preambleidentifier, a UE may consider the random access procedure successfullycompleted and may indicate a reception of an acknowledgement for asystem information request to upper layers. If a UE has signaledmultiple preamble transmissions, the UE may stop transmitting remainingpreambles (if any) in response to a successful reception of acorresponding random access response.

In an example, a UE may perform one or more Msg 3 1240 transmissions inresponse to a successful reception of random access response (e.g., fora contention based random access procedure). A UE may adjust an uplinktransmission timing based on a timing advanced command indicated by arandom access response and may transmit one or more transport blocksbased on an uplink grant indicated by a random access response.Subcarrier spacing for PUSCH transmission for Msg3 1240 may be providedby at least one higher layer (e.g. RRC) parameter. A UE may transmit arandom access preamble via PRACH and Msg3 1240 via PUSCH on a same cell.A base station may indicate an UL BWP for a PUSCH transmission of Msg31240 via system information block. A UE may employ HARQ for aretransmission of Msg 3 1240.

In an example, multiple UEs may perform Msg 1 1220 by transmitting asame preamble to a base station and receive, from the base station, asame random access response comprising an identity (e.g., TC-RNTI).Contention resolution 1250 may ensure that a UE does not incorrectly usean identity of another UE. For example, contention resolution 1250 maybe based on C-RNTI on PDCCH or a UE contention resolution identity onDL-SCH. For example, if a base station assigns a C-RNTI to a UE, the UEmay perform contention resolution 1250 based on a reception of a PDCCHtransmission that is addressed to the C-RNTI. In response to detectionof a C-RNTI on a PDCCH, a UE may consider contention resolution 1250successful and may consider a random access procedure successfullycompleted. If a UE has no valid C-RNTI, a contention resolution may beaddressed by employing a TC-RNTI. For example, if a MAC PDU issuccessfully decoded and a MAC PDU comprises a UE contention resolutionidentity MAC CE that matches the CCCH SDU transmitted in Msg3 1250, a UEmay consider the contention resolution 1250 successful and may considerthe random access procedure successfully completed.

FIG. 13 is an example structure for MAC entities as per an aspect of anembodiment. In an example, a wireless device may be configured tooperate in a multi-connectivity mode. A wireless device in RRC_CONNECTEDwith multiple RX/TX may be configured to utilize radio resourcesprovided by multiple schedulers located in a plurality of base stations.The plurality of base stations may be connected via a non-ideal or idealbackhaul over the Xn interface. In an example, a base station in aplurality of base stations may act as a master base station or as asecondary base station. A wireless device may be connected to one masterbase station and one or more secondary base stations. A wireless devicemay be configured with multiple MAC entities, e.g. one MAC entity formaster base station, and one or more other MAC entities for secondarybase station(s). In an example, a configured set of serving cells for awireless device may comprise two subsets: an MCG comprising servingcells of a master base station, and one or more SCGs comprising servingcells of a secondary base station(s). FIG. 13 illustrates an examplestructure for MAC entities when MCG and SCG are configured for awireless device.

In an example, at least one cell in a SCG may have a configured UL CC,wherein a cell of at least one cell may be called PSCell or PCell ofSCG, or sometimes may be simply called PCell. A PSCell may be configuredwith PUCCH resources. In an example, when a SCG is configured, there maybe at least one SCG bearer or one split bearer. In an example, upondetection of a physical layer problem or a random access problem on aPSCell, or upon reaching a number of RLC retransmissions associated withthe SCG, or upon detection of an access problem on a PSCell during a SCGaddition or a SCG change: an RRC connection re-establishment proceduremay not be triggered, UL transmissions towards cells of an SCG may bestopped, a master base station may be informed by a UE of a SCG failuretype and DL data transfer over a master base station may be maintained.

In an example, a MAC sublayer may provide services such as data transferand radio resource allocation to upper layers (e.g. 1310 or 1320). A MACsublayer may comprise a plurality of MAC entities (e.g. 1350 and 1360).A MAC sublayer may provide data transfer services on logical channels.To accommodate different kinds of data transfer services, multiple typesof logical channels may be defined. A logical channel may supporttransfer of a particular type of information. A logical channel type maybe defined by what type of information (e.g., control or data) istransferred. For example, BCCH, PCCH, CCCH and DCCH may be controlchannels and DTCH may be a traffic channel. In an example, a first MACentity (e.g. 1310) may provide services on PCCH, BCCH, CCCH, DCCH, DTCHand MAC control elements. In an example, a second MAC entity (e.g. 1320)may provide services on BCCH, DCCH, DTCH and MAC control elements.

A MAC sublayer may expect from a physical layer (e.g. 1330 or 1340)services such as data transfer services, signaling of HARQ feedback,signaling of scheduling request or measurements (e.g. CQI). In anexample, in dual connectivity, two MAC entities may be configured for awireless device: one for MCG and one for SCG. A MAC entity of wirelessdevice may handle a plurality of transport channels. In an example, afirst MAC entity may handle first transport channels comprising a PCCHof MCG, a first BCH of MCG, one or more first DL-SCHs of MCG, one ormore first UL-SCHs of MCG and one or more first RACHs of MCG. In anexample, a second MAC entity may handle second transport channelscomprising a second BCH of SCG, one or more second DL-SCHs of SCG, oneor more second UL-SCHs of SCG and one or more second RACHs of SCG.

In an example, if a MAC entity is configured with one or more SCells,there may be multiple DL-SCHs and there may be multiple UL-SCHs as wellas multiple RACHs per MAC entity. In an example, there may be one DL-SCHand UL-SCH on a SpCell. In an example, there may be one DL-SCH, zero orone UL-SCH and zero or one RACH for an SCell. A DL-SCH may supportreceptions using different numerologies and/or TTI duration within a MACentity. A UL-SCH may also support transmissions using differentnumerologies and/or TTI duration within the MAC entity.

In an example, a MAC sublayer may support different functions and maycontrol these functions with a control (e.g. 1355 or 1365) element.Functions performed by a MAC entity may comprise mapping between logicalchannels and transport channels (e.g., in uplink or downlink),multiplexing (e.g. 1352 or 1362) of MAC SDUs from one or differentlogical channels onto transport blocks (TB) to be delivered to thephysical layer on transport channels (e.g., in uplink), demultiplexing(e.g. 1352 or 1362) of MAC SDUs to one or different logical channelsfrom transport blocks (TB) delivered from the physical layer ontransport channels (e.g., in downlink), scheduling information reporting(e.g., in uplink), error correction through HARQ in uplink or downlink(e.g. 1363), and logical channel prioritization in uplink (e.g. 1351 or1361). A MAC entity may handle a random access process (e.g. 1354 or1364).

FIG. 14 is an example diagram of a RAN architecture comprising one ormore base stations. In an example, a protocol stack (e.g. RRC, SDAP,PDCP, RLC, MAC, and PHY) may be supported at a node. A base station(e.g. gNB 120A or 120B) may comprise a base station central unit (CU)(e.g. gNB-CU 1420A or 1420B) and at least one base station distributedunit (DU) (e.g. gNB-DU 1430A, 1430B, 1430C, or 1430D) if a functionalsplit is configured. Upper protocol layers of a base station may belocated in a base station CU, and lower layers of the base station maybe located in the base station DUs. An F1 interface (e.g. CU-DUinterface) connecting a base station CU and base station DUs may be anideal or non-ideal backhaul. F1-C may provide a control plane connectionover an F1 interface, and F1-U may provide a user plane connection overthe F1 interface. In an example, an Xn interface may be configuredbetween base station CUs.

In an example, a base station CU may comprise an RRC function, an SDAPlayer, and a PDCP layer, and base station DUs may comprise an RLC layer,a MAC layer, and a PHY layer. In an example, various functional splitoptions between a base station CU and base station DUs may be possibleby locating different combinations of upper protocol layers (RANfunctions) in a base station CU and different combinations of lowerprotocol layers (RAN functions) in base station DUs. A functional splitmay support flexibility to move protocol layers between a base stationCU and base station DUs depending on service requirements and/or networkenvironments.

In an example, functional split options may be configured per basestation, per base station CU, per base station DU, per UE, per bearer,per slice, or with other granularities. In per base station CU split, abase station CU may have a fixed split option, and base station DUs maybe configured to match a split option of a base station CU. In per basestation DU split, a base station DU may be configured with a differentsplit option, and a base station CU may provide different split optionsfor different base station DUs. In per UE split, a base station (basestation CU and at least one base station DUs) may provide differentsplit options for different wireless devices. In per bearer split,different split options may be utilized for different bearers. In perslice splice, different split options may be applied for differentslices.

FIG. 15 is an example diagram showing RRC state transitions of awireless device. In an example, a wireless device may be in at least oneRRC state among an RRC connected state (e.g. RRC Connected 1530,RRC_Connected), an RRC idle state (e.g. RRC Idle 1510, RRC_Idle), and/oran RRC inactive state (e.g. RRC Inactive 1520, RRC_Inactive). In anexample, in an RRC connected state, a wireless device may have at leastone RRC connection with at least one base station (e.g. gNB and/or eNB),which may have a UE context of the wireless device. A UE context (e.g. awireless device context) may comprise at least one of an access stratumcontext, one or more radio link configuration parameters, bearer (e.g.data radio bearer (DRB), signaling radio bearer (SRB), logical channel,QoS flow, PDU session, and/or the like) configuration information,security information, PHY/MAC/RLC/PDCP/SDAP layer configurationinformation, and/or the like configuration information for a wirelessdevice. In an example, in an RRC idle state, a wireless device may nothave an RRC connection with a base station, and a UE context of awireless device may not be stored in a base station. In an example, inan RRC inactive state, a wireless device may not have an RRC connectionwith a base station. A UE context of a wireless device may be stored ina base station, which may be called as an anchor base station (e.g. lastserving base station).

In an example, a wireless device may transition a UE RRC state betweenan RRC idle state and an RRC connected state in both ways (e.g.connection release 1540 or connection establishment 1550; or connectionreestablishment) and/or between an RRC inactive state and an RRCconnected state in both ways (e.g. connection inactivation 1570 orconnection resume 1580). In an example, a wireless device may transitionits RRC state from an RRC inactive state to an RRC idle state (e.g.connection release 1560).

In an example, an anchor base station may be a base station that maykeep a UE context (a wireless device context) of a wireless device atleast during a time period that a wireless device stays in a RANnotification area (RNA) of an anchor base station, and/or that awireless device stays in an RRC inactive state. In an example, an anchorbase station may be a base station that a wireless device in an RRCinactive state was lastly connected to in a latest RRC connected stateor that a wireless device lastly performed an RNA update procedure in.In an example, an RNA may comprise one or more cells operated by one ormore base stations. In an example, a base station may belong to one ormore RNAs. In an example, a cell may belong to one or more RNAs.

In an example, a wireless device may transition a UE RRC state from anRRC connected state to an RRC inactive state in a base station. Awireless device may receive RNA information from the base station. RNAinformation may comprise at least one of an RNA identifier, one or morecell identifiers of one or more cells of an RNA, a base stationidentifier, an IP address of the base station, an AS context identifierof the wireless device, a resume identifier, and/or the like.

In an example, an anchor base station may broadcast a message (e.g. RANpaging message) to base stations of an RNA to reach to a wireless devicein an RRC inactive state, and/or the base stations receiving the messagefrom the anchor base station may broadcast and/or multicast anothermessage (e.g. paging message) to wireless devices in their coveragearea, cell coverage area, and/or beam coverage area associated with theRNA through an air interface.

In an example, when a wireless device in an RRC inactive state movesinto a new RNA, the wireless device may perform an RNA update (RNAU)procedure, which may comprise a random access procedure by the wirelessdevice and/or a UE context retrieve procedure. A UE context retrieve maycomprise: receiving, by a base station from a wireless device, a randomaccess preamble; and fetching, by a base station, a UE context of thewireless device from an old anchor base station. Fetching may comprise:sending a retrieve UE context request message comprising a resumeidentifier to the old anchor base station and receiving a retrieve UEcontext response message comprising the UE context of the wirelessdevice from the old anchor base station.

In an example embodiment, a wireless device in an RRC inactive state mayselect a cell to camp on based on at least a on measurement results forone or more cells, a cell where a wireless device may monitor an RNApaging message and/or a core network paging message from a base station.In an example, a wireless device in an RRC inactive state may select acell to perform a random access procedure to resume an RRC connectionand/or to transmit one or more packets to a base station (e.g. to anetwork). In an example, if a cell selected belongs to a different RNAfrom an RNA for a wireless device in an RRC inactive state, the wirelessdevice may initiate a random access procedure to perform an RNA updateprocedure. In an example, if a wireless device in an RRC inactive statehas one or more packets, in a buffer, to transmit to a network, thewireless device may initiate a random access procedure to transmit oneor more packets to a base station of a cell that the wireless deviceselects. A random access procedure may be performed with two messages(e.g. 2 stage random access) and/or four messages (e.g. 4 stage randomaccess) between the wireless device and the base station.

In an example embodiment, a base station receiving one or more uplinkpackets from a wireless device in an RRC inactive state may fetch a UEcontext of a wireless device by transmitting a retrieve UE contextrequest message for the wireless device to an anchor base station of thewireless device based on at least one of an AS context identifier, anRNA identifier, a base station identifier, a resume identifier, and/or acell identifier received from the wireless device. In response tofetching a UE context, a base station may transmit a path switch requestfor a wireless device to a core network entity (e.g. AMF, MME, and/orthe like). A core network entity may update a downlink tunnel endpointidentifier for one or more bearers established for the wireless devicebetween a user plane core network entity (e.g. UPF, S-GW, and/or thelike) and a RAN node (e.g. the base station), e.g. changing a downlinktunnel endpoint identifier from an address of the anchor base station toan address of the base station.

In an example, when a cell is configured with at least one closed accessgroup (CAG) for a non-public network (NPN), a wireless device may need amembership for one of the at least one CAG (e.g., need verification toaccess the at least one CAG) to access the cell and/or the NPN. In animplementation of existing technologies for dual-connectivity and/orfunctional split base station (e.g., central unit and distributed unitsplit base station, CU-DU split base station), when a master basestation (e.g., or a base station central unit) requests, to a secondarybase station (e.g., or a base station distributed unit), to configurecells for a wireless device, the secondary base station (e.g., or thebase station distributed unit) may configure a normal cell (e.g.,non-CAG cell) for the wireless device that is only allowed to a CAGcell. In an existing technology, the configuration of the normal cellfor the wireless device may be rejected by the master base station(e.g., or the base station central unit) and/or by a core network node(e.g., AMF). The existing interaction between base stations (e.g., orbetween a base station central unit and a base station distributed unit)may increase unnecessary signaling for configuration of CAG wirelessdevices. An implementation of existing technologies may increaseinefficient signaling and/or decrease communication reliability forwireless devices. An enhanced communication mechanism for CAG support isneeded.

Example embodiments may support signaling between base stations (e.g.,between base station central unit and base station distributed unit) toshare CAG accessibility information of a wireless device (e.g.,information whether a wireless device is allowed to access to a normalcell). An implementation of example embodiments may support a secondarybase station (e.g., or a base station distributed unit) to configureproper CAG cells for a wireless device that is only allowed to access aCAG cell. Example embodiments may reduce unnecessary signaling for CAGcells and increase signaling efficiency among network nodes.

A non-public networks (NPN) may be intended for the use of a privateentity such as an enterprise, and may be deployed in a variety ofconfigurations, utilizing both virtual and physical elements. The NPNmay be deployed as standalone networks (i.e. stand-alone non-publicnetwork (SNPN)). As an implementation alternative, the NPN may be hostedby a PLMN and may be offered as a slice of a PLMN (i.e. a public networkintegrated NPN).

Public network integrated NPNs may be NPNs made available via PLMNs,e.g., by means of dedicated DNNs, or by one (or more) network sliceinstances allocated for the NPN. When an NPN is made available via aPLMN, then the wireless device may have a subscription for the PLMN. Asnetwork slicing does not enable the possibility to prevent wirelessdevices from trying to access the network in areas which the wirelessdevice is not allowed to use the network slice allocated for the NPN,closed access groups (CAG)s may be used in addition to network slicingto apply access control.

A CAG may identify a group of subscribers who are permitted to accessone or more cells associated to the CAG. In an example, CAG is used forthe public network integrated NPNs to prevent wireless device(s), whichare not allowed to access the NPN via the associated cell(s), fromautomatically selecting and accessing the associated cell(s).

In an example, a CAG is identified by a CAG identifier which is uniquewithin the scope of a PLMN ID. A CAG cell may broadcast one or multipleCAG Identifiers per PLMN. It is assumed that a base station (e.g.NG-RAN) supports broadcasting a total of twelve CAG Identifiers. A CAGcell may in addition broadcast a human-readable network name per CAGIdentifier. In an example, the human-readable network name may be anenterprise name and used for presentation to user when user requests amanual CAG selection.

To support CAG, the wireless device may be configured, using the UEconfiguration update procedure for access and mobility managementrelated parameters with the CAG information, included in thesubscription as part of the Mobility Restriction. The CAG informationmay comprise an allowed CAG list (i.e. a list of CAG Identifiers the UEis allowed to access), an indication whether the UE is only allowed toaccess 5GS via CAG cells, and/or the like. In an example, the indicationis a CAG restriction indicator.

To support CAG, a base station may broadcast CAG related information viacells. In an example, a cell broadcasting one or more CAG identity may aCAG cell. In an example, a cell does not broadcast any CAG identity maybe a non-CAG cell. In an example, the CAG related information maycomprise an indication that only wireless device supporting CAG isallowed to access. The CAG cell and non-CAG cell may broadcast theindication. The indication of the CAG cell may be positive value and theindication of the non-CAG cell may be negative value. In an example, awireless device may determine whether to access the cells base on theCAG related information. The mobility (e.g. cell-reselection forcamping, handover) of a wireless device may be controlled/restricted bythe CAG information of the wireless device and the CAG relatedinformation of the base station/cell.

FIG. 16 and FIG. 17 shows examples of CAG and/or CAG cell deployment. Acoverage area of a first CAG may be overlapped with a second CAG. A CAGmay cover a part of a PLMN network. An NPN may configure multiple CAGsto implement differentiated access control for different UEs ordifferent areas. Multiple CAGs of different NPNs may share the samecell.

In an example, a CAG identifier may be used by a base station to selectappropriate, a wireless device is configured as CAG identifier 1 (CAG 1)and is accessing to a base station which broadcasts CAG 1, CAG 2 viasystem information. The wireless device may send a radio resourcecontrol (RRC) message after a completion of RRC connection setup withthe base station, requesting a connection transition from CM-IDLE toCM-CONNECTED. In an example, the RRC message is RRC connection setupcomplete message. The RRC message may comprise a NAS request message andaccess network (AN) parameter. In an example, the NAS request message isa registration request message or a service request message. In anexample, the AN parameter may include CAG identifier (CAG 1). The basestation may check whether the CAG identifier in the AN parameter issupported by the cell. The base station may select an appropriate AMFbased on the CAG identifier (CAG 1). In an example, two or more AMFs maybe connected with the base station, and some AMFs may not support CAG 1or slice corresponding to the CAG 1. The base station may send an N2message comprising the NAS message and the CAG identifier in the RRCmessage, to the AMF.

In an example, the AMF may have context information of the wirelessdevice comprising CAG white list and the CAG white list includes CAG 1.In this case, the AMF may determine that the wireless device allowed toaccess the 5GS via the base station and may send an NAS accept messageto the wireless device in response to the determining.

In an example, if the AMF has context information of the wireless devicebut does not have CAG identifier (CAG 1), the AMF may check with a UDMwhether the UE is allowed to access the base station. If the wirelessdevice is allowed to access cell with CAG 1, the AMF may include CAG 1into a CAG white list of the wireless device and send a NAS acceptmessage to the wireless device. If the wireless device is not allowed toaccess cell with CAG 1, the AMF may reject the wireless device bysending a NAS reject message.

In an example, if the AMF does not have context information of thewireless device (this is maybe initial registration case), the AMF mayinteract with a UDM and check whether the UE is allowed to access thebase station. If the wireless device is allowed to access cell with CAG1, the AMF may include CAG 1 into a CAG white list of the wirelessdevice and send a NAS accept message (i.e. registration accept) to thewireless device. If the wireless device is not allowed to access cellwith CAG 1, the AMF may reject the wireless device by sending a NASreject message (i.e. registration reject).

A wireless device may be accessing to a base station which in non-CAGcell. The wireless device may send a radio resource control (RRC)message after a completion of RRC connection setup with the basestation, requesting a connection transition from CM-IDLE toCM-CONNECTED. In an example, the RRC message is RRC connection setupcomplete message. The RRC message may comprise a NAS request message andaccess network (AN) parameter. In an example, the NAS request message isa registration request message or a service request message. The basestation may send an N2 message comprising the NAS message in the RRCmessage to the AMF. In an example, the N2 message does not include anyCAG identifier.

In an example, the AMF may have context information of the wirelessdevice comprising a CAG restriction indicator. The AMF may determinewhether the wireless device is allowed to access the 5GS via the basestation (non-CAG cell) based on the CAG restriction indicator of thewireless device. In an example, the AMF may determine that the wirelessdevice is allowed to access the 5GS via non-CAG cell in response to theCAG restriction indicator being a negative value (i.e. the CAGrestriction indicator saying that the wireless device is not restrictedto access a 5GS via only CAG cell.). The AMF may send a NAS acceptmessage to the wireless device in response to the determination. In anexample, the AMF may determine that the wireless device is not allowedto access the 5GS via non-CAG cell in response to the CAG restrictionindicator being a positive value (i.e. the CAG restriction indicatorsaying that the wireless device is restricted to access a 5GS via onlyCAG cell.). The AMF may send a NAS reject message with appropriate causevalue to the wireless device in response to the determination. In anexample, the cause value may indicate that the request is rejected sincethe wireless device is access via non-CAG cell.

In an example, if the AMF does not have context information of thewireless device (this is maybe initial registration case), the AMF mayinteract with a UDM and check whether the UE is allowed to access via anon-CAG cell based on a CAG restriction indicator of the wirelessdevice. The AMF behavior may be same with previous description based onthe CAG restriction indicator of the wireless device.

Example Architecture and Elements

In an example, as shown in FIG. 18, a first base station (e.g., gNB,eNB, gNB1, eNB1, etc.) may serve a wireless device. The first basestation may be connected to a second base station (e.g., gNB, eNB, gNB2,eNB2, etc.) via a direct interface (e.g., Xn interface, X2 interface,etc.). When the first base station is configured as a master basestation (e.g., in dual-connectivity/multi-connectivity) for the wirelessdevice, the first base station may provide for the wireless device(e.g., for communication with the wireless device) at least one of: aradio resource control (RRC) function; a service data adaptationprotocol (SDAP) layer function; a packet data convergence protocol(PDCP) layer function; a radio link control layer (RLC) layer function;a medium access control (MAC) layer function; and/or a part of aphysical layer function. When the second base station is configured as asecondary base station (e.g., in dual-connectivity/multi-connectivity)for the wireless device, the second base station may provide for thewireless device (e.g., for communication with the wireless device) atleast one of: an RLC layer function; a MAC layer function; a physicallayer function; and/or a part of a physical layer function.

The first base station may be connected to an access and mobilitymanagement function (AMF) via a direct control plane interface (e.g., N2interface, S1 interface, S1-C, etc.) (e.g., for control planeconnection), and/or may be connected to a user plane function (UPF) viaa direct user plane interface (e.g., N3 interface, S1 interface, S1-U,etc.) (e.g., for user plane connection).

In an example, as shown in FIG. 20, a base station central unit (e.g.,gNB-CU, central unit, CU, IAB-donor, etc.) may serve a wireless device.The base station central unit may be connected to a base stationdistributed unit (e.g., gNB-DU, distributed unit, DU, IAB-node, etc.)via a direct interface (e.g., F1 interface). A base station (e.g., gNB,eNB, etc.) may comprise the base station central unit and the basestation distributed unit. The base station central unit may provide forthe wireless device (e.g., for communication with the wireless device)at least one of: an RRC function; an SDAP layer function; a PDCP layerfunction; an RLC layer function; a MAC layer function; and/or a part ofa physical layer function. The base station distributed unit may providefor the wireless device (e.g., for communication with the wirelessdevice) at least one of: an RLC layer function; a MAC layer function; aphysical layer function; and/or a part of a physical layer function. Inan example, the base station central unit may be an IAB donor. The basestation distribute unit may be an integrated access and backhaul (IAB)node. In an example, the base station and/or the base station centralunit may be connected to an AMF via a direct control plane interface(e.g., N2 interface, S1 interface, S1-C, etc.) (e.g., for control planeconnection), and/or may be connected to a user plane function (UPF) viaa direct user plane interface (e.g., N3 interface, S1 interface, S1-U,etc.) (e.g., for user plane connection).

In this disclosure, the first base station and the second base stationmay be interpreted/understood as the base station central unit and thebase station distributed unit respectively. The signaling among thefirst base station, the second base station, the AMF, and the wirelessdevice may be interpreted/understood as signaling among the base stationcentral unit, the base station distributed unit, the AMF, and thewireless device respectively. In this disclosure, the first base stationand the second base station may be replaced to the base station centralunit and the base station distributed unit respectively.

In an example, as shown in FIG. 18 and/or FIG. 19, the first basestation may receive, from the wireless device, a measurement reportcomprising measurement results for one or more serving cells of thesecond base station. The first base station may determine, based on themeasurement report, to configure the second base station as a secondarynode (e.g., SgNB, SeNB, etc.) for the wireless device. The first basestation may send, to the second base station and/or in response to thedetermining, a request message for a secondary node configuration forthe wireless device. The request message may comprise a field indicatingthat the wireless device is only allowed to access a cell associatedwith at least one closed access group (CAG). The second base station maydetermine, based on the request message, to configure one or moresecondary cells for the wireless device. The one or more secondary cellsmay be associated with at least one first CAG. The second base stationmay send, to the first base station, an acknowledge message for therequest message. The acknowledge message may comprise cell configurationparameters of the one or more secondary cells for the wireless device.The first base station may send, to the wireless device and in responseto receiving the acknowledge message, an RRC message comprising the cellconfiguration parameters.

In an example, as shown in FIG. 20 and/or FIG. 21, the base stationcentral unit may receive, from the wireless device, a measurement reportcomprising measurement results for one or more serving cells of the basestation distributed unit. The base station distributed unit maydetermine, based on the measurement report, to configure the basestation distributed unit for the wireless device. The base stationcentral unit may send, to the base station distributed unit and/or inresponse to the determining, a request message for a contextconfiguration for the wireless device. The request message may comprisea field indicating that the wireless device is only allowed to access acell associated with at least one CAG. The base station distributed unitmay determine, based on the request message, to configure one or morecells for the wireless device. The one or more cells may be associatedwith at least one first CAG. The base station distributed unit may send,to the base station central unit, an acknowledge message for the requestmessage. The acknowledge message may comprise cell configurationparameters for the one or more cells. The base station central unit maysend, to the wireless device and in response to receiving theacknowledge message, an RRC message comprising the cell configurationparameters.

In an example, as shown in FIG. 18 and/or FIG. 20, the first basestation (e.g., or the base station central unit) may receive aninformation message indicating at least one of: that the wireless deviceis allowed to access a second CAG; and/or that the wireless device isonly allowed to access a cell associated with at least one CAG (e.g.,the wireless device is a CAG-only UE) (e.g., the wireless device is onlyallowed to access a CAG cell; the wireless device is only allowed toaccess a cell associated with a CAG that the wireless device is a memberof). The first base station may receive the information message from atleast one of: an AMF (e.g., via the N2 interface; via initial UE contextsetup request message and/or UE context modification request message; oran MME via the S1 interface); a third base station (e.g., neighboringbase station, handover source base station; e.g., via Xn/X2 interface);and/or the wireless device (e.g., via one or more RRC messages, UEinformation message, UE assistance information message, RRC setuprequest message, RRC reestablishment request, RRC resume requestmessage, etc.). In an example, the wireless device may be a member ofthe second CAG.

In an example, the first base station (e.g., or the base station centralunit) may receive, from the second base station (e.g., or the basestation distributed unit), a configuration message comprising cellinformation of one or more serving cells of the second base station(e.g., or the base station distributed unit). The cell information mayindicate that the one or more serving cells are associated with one ormore CAGs (e.g., the second CAG). In an example, the cell informationmay indicate that the one or more serving cells are a hybrid cell (e.g.,a non-member wireless device of associated CAG may be allowed to accessand/or may be provided with deprioritized QoS) or a closed cell (e.g.,CAG cell) (e.g., a non-member wireless device of associated CAG may notbe allowed to access).

In an example, (e.g., for the first base station) the configurationmessage may comprise at least one of: Xn setup request/response message,and/or RAN-node/eNB configuration update message. In an example, (e.g.,for the base station central unit) the configuration message maycomprise at least one of: F1 setup request message, gNB-DU configurationupdate message, and/or gNB-CU configuration updated acknowledge message.

In an example, the cell information may comprise parameters for a cellof the one or more serving cells. The parameters for a cell may compriseat least one of: a cell identifier (e.g., global cell identifier, CGI,physical cell identifier, PCI, etc.), tracking area information (e.g.,tracking area code, TAC, tracking area identifier, TAI, etc.), an NPNidentifier, at least one PLMN identifier, a list of supported networkslices (e.g., S-NSSAI, NSSAI; supported at a tracking area and/or acell), FDD and/or TDD configuration parameters, downlink and/or uplinkfrequency/bandwidth information (e.g., frequency offset, band,bandwidth, bandwidth part configuration parameters, etc.), beamconfiguration parameters (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS, DM-RS parameters),measurement timing configuration information (e.g., SSB and/or RSconfiguration parameters for measurement; frequency/timing schedulinginformation), a RAN area code, and/or the like.

In an example, the one or more serving cells may be at least one of: anon-CAG cell (e.g., normal cell, open cell, public cell, etc.); a hybridcell for a CAG; a closed cell (e.g., CAG cell) for a CAG; and/or thelike.

In an example, the first base station (e.g., or the base station centralunit) may send, to the second base station (e.g., or the base stationdistributed unit), a configuration response message for theconfiguration message.

In an example, the first base station (e.g., or the base station centralunit) may receive, from the wireless device, a measurement report (e.g.,RRC measurement report) comprising measurement results for the one ormore serving cells of the second base station (e.g., or the base stationdistributed unit). In an example, the first base station (e.g., or thebase station central unit) may receive, from the wireless device, themeasurement report via an RRC message. The measurement report maycomprise at least one of: a cell identifier of a cell of the one or moreserving cells; an identifier of a CAG associated with a cell of the oneor more serving cells; and/or an information field indicating whether acell of the one or more serving cells is a hybrid cell or a closed cellfor a CAG. The measurement report may comprise at least one of: areference signal received power (RSRP) of the one or more serving cells;and/or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) of the one or moreserving cells. The measurement report may be based on a measurementconfiguration transmitted by the first base station to the wirelessdevice. The measurement configuration may indicate measurement targetcells comprising the one or more serving cells. The measurementconfiguration may comprise a CAG identifier for the measurement targetcells. The wireless device may perform a measurement for a cellassociated with a CAG (e.g., the second CAG) that the wireless device isallowed to access (e.g., a member of).

In an example, based on the measurement report (e.g., if radio quality(e.g., RSRP, RSRQ) of the one or more serving cells is higher than athreshold power value), the first base station (e.g., or the basestation central unit) may consider to configure the second base station(e.g., or the base station distributed unit) as a secondary base station(e.g., or to use) for the wireless device. For the consideration, thefirst base station (e.g., or the base station central unit) may requestthe AMF to perform membership verification of the wireless device toaccess the one or more serving cells and/or to access CAGs associatedwith the one or more serving cells.

In an example, the first base station (e.g., or the base station centralunit) may send, to the AMF (e.g., via the N2/S1 message), an indicationmessage requesting the membership verification of the wireless devicefor one or more CAGs associated with the one or more serving cells. Theindication message may comprise at least one of: a PDU sessionmodification indication message, a UE context modification indicationmessage, an E-RAB modification indication message, and/or the like. Theindication message may comprise at least one of: an identifier (e.g.,TMSI, IMEI, IMSI, C-RNTI, UE N2/S1-AP identifier, etc.) of the wirelessdevice, an identifier of a CAG (e.g., a CAG of the one or more servingcells) that the wireless device considers to access, an indication fieldquestioning whether the wireless device is only allowed to access a cellassociated with a CAG; and/or the like.

In an example, in response to sending the indication message, the firstbase station (e.g., or the base station central unit) may receive, fromthe AMF (e.g., via the N2/S1 message), a confirm message indicating thatthe wireless device is at least one of: allowed to access a CAG (e.g.,at least one of CAGs of the one or more serving cells); and/or onlyallowed to access a cell associated with a CAG. In an example, theconfirm message may comprise at least one of: a PDU session modificationconfirm message, a UE context modification confirm message, an E-RABmodification confirm message, and/or the like. The confirm message maycomprise at least one of the identifier of the wireless device, anidentifier of a CAG that the wireless device is allowed to access,and/or the like. In an example, the confirm message may indicate atleast one of: the wireless device is allowed to access first one of theone or more CAGs associated with the one or more serving cells; thewireless device is not allowed to access second one of the one or moreCAGs associated with the one or more serving cells; and/or the like.

In an example, based on the measurement report, the cell information,and/or the confirm message, the first base station (e.g., or the basestation central unit) may determine to configure the second base station(e.g., or the base station distributed unit) as a secondary node (e.g.,or as a serving base station distributed unit) for the wireless device.In an example, the determining to configure the second base station(e.g., or the base station distributed unit) for the wireless device maybe based on the cell information of the one or more serving cells. In anexample, the determining to configure the second base station (e.g., orthe base station distributed unit) for the wireless device may befurther based on the confirm message.

In an example, the determining to configure the second base station(e.g., or the base station distributed unit) for the wireless device maybe further based on at least one of: a load status (e.g., medium/lowtraffic load, medium/low hardware load, etc.) of the second base station(e.g., or the base station distributed unit) and/or the one or moreserving cells; an interference status at the one or more serving cellsof the second base station (e.g., or the base station distributed unit);and/or the like. The first base station (e.g., or the base stationcentral unit) may receive the load status and/or the interference statusfrom the second base station (e.g., or the base station distributedunit) via the Xn/X2 interface (e.g., or the F1 interface).

In an example, in response to (and/or based on) determining to configurethe second base station (e.g., or the base station distributed unit) forthe wireless device, the first base station (e.g., or the base stationcentral unit) may send, to the second base station (e.g., or the basestation distributed unit), a request message for a secondary nodeconfiguration (e.g., or a UE context setup) for the wireless device. Therequest message may comprise a field indicating that the wireless deviceis only allowed to access a cell associated with at least one CAG. In anexample, (e.g., for the second base station) the request message maycomprise at least one of: a secondary node addition request message, asecondary node modification request message, an SeNB addition requestmessage, an SeNB modification request message, and/or the like. In anexample, (e.g., for the base station distributed unit) the requestmessage may comprise at least one of: a UE context setup requestmessage, a UE context modification request message, a UE contextmodification confirm message, and/or the like.

In an example, the request message may comprise at least one of: anidentifier (e.g., UE XnAP identifier, UE F1AP identifier, TMSI, IMSI,etc.), an identifier of the second CAG (e.g., CAG whitelist and/orallowed CAGs of the wireless device) that the wireless device is allowedto access; a cell identifier (e.g., cell index, global cell identifier,CGI, physical cell identifier, PCI, etc.) of a cell of the one or moreserving cells; an identifier of a target CAG that the wireless devicetry to access, and/or the like. The request message may comprise anidentifier of a target secondary cell (e.g., or a target cell)comprising at least one of: a primary cell (Pcell), a primary secondarycell (PScell); a special cell (Spcell); a secondary cell; and/or thelike. The request message may comprise recommended RRC configurationparameters determined by the first base station (e.g., or the basestation central unit).

The request message may comprise bearer configuration parameters of oneor more bearers for at least one of: a first network slice associatedwith the second CAG; a first non-public network (NPN) associated withthe second CAG; the second CAG; and/or the like. The bearerconfiguration parameters may comprise parameters for a bearer of the oneor more bearers, the parameters comprising at least one of: a beareridentifier, an uplink tunnel endpoint identifier, QoS information (e.g.,QCI, 5QI, ARP, priority information, etc.), PDCP duplicationconfiguration parameters, PDCP duplication activation/deactivationindication, RLC mode, QoS flow configuration parameters, PDU sessionconfiguration parameters, and/or the like.

In an example, the field of the request message may indicate at leastone of: that the wireless device is not allowed to access a cell that isnot associated with any CAG; that the wireless device is not allowed toaccess a cell associated with no CAG; that the wireless device is onlyallowed to access a cell that is associated with the second CAG that thewireless device is a member of; that the wireless device is not allowedto access a cell that is not associated with the second CAG that thewireless device is a member of; and/or the like. The field of therequest message may indicate that the wireless device is allowed toaccess a cell (e.g., a hybrid cell) that is not associated with thesecond CAG and/or that is associated with at least one CAG (e.g., otherthan the second CAG).

In an example, the second base station (e.g., or the base stationdistributed unit) may perform configuring one or more secondary cells(e.g., or one or more cells) for the wireless device based on therequest message and/or the field. In an example, the second base station(e.g., or the base station distributed unit) may perform, based on therequest message and/or the field, at least one of: configuring, as oneof the one or more secondary cells, a closed cell (e.g., CAG cell)associated with a CAG (e.g., the second CAG) that the wireless device isa member of; configuring, as one of the one or more secondary cells, ahybrid cell (e.g., CAG cell) associated with a CAG that the wirelessdevice is a non-member of; not configuring, as one of the one or moresecondary cells, a hybrid cell (e.g., CAG cell) associated with a CAGthat the wireless device is a non-member of; not configuring, as one ofthe one or more secondary cells, a normal/open cell (e.g., non-CAGcell).

In an example, the second base station (e.g., or the base stationdistributed unit) may configure the one or more secondary cells for thewireless device based on a load status (e.g., configure a cell for thewireless device if a resource usage ratio is lower than 70%) and/or aninterference status of the one or more secondary cells (e.g., configurea cell for the wireless device if an average interference experienced bywireless devices at the cell is lower than a threshold power value).

In an example, the second base station (e.g., or the base stationdistributed unit) may configure, based on the performing, the one ormore secondary cells (e.g., or the one or more cells) for the wirelessdevice. In an example, the second base station (e.g., or the basestation distributed unit) may configure, based on the performing, cellconfiguration parameters of the one or more secondary cells (e.g., orthe one or more cells) for the wireless device.

The one or more secondary cells (e.g., or the one or more cells) may beassociated with at least one first CAG. In an example, the one or moresecondary cells (e.g., or the one or more cells) may belong to the atleast one first CAG. The at least one first CAG may comprise the secondCAG (e.g, of the wireless device). The one or more secondary cells(e.g., or the one or more cells) may be associated with at least one of:a first NPN; a first network slice; a first PLMN; and/or the like. Theat least one first CAG may be for at least one of: the first NPN; thefirst network slice; the first PLMN; and/or the like. The one or moresecondary cells (e.g., or the one or more cells) may comprise a specialcell (Spcell; e.g., primary secondary cell, PScell) for the wirelessdevice.

In an example, the second base station (e.g., or the base stationdistributed unit) may configure a cell for a bearer of the one or morebearers for the wireless device. In an example, if a CAG of a cell isassociated with an NPN (e.g., network slice) and if the wireless deviceis allowed to access the CAG (e.g., a member of the CAG and/or the cellof the CAG is a hybrid cell), the second base station (e.g., or the basestation distributed unit) may configure the cell for a bearer (e.g.,logical channel) configured for communication employing the NPN (e.g.,configure packets associated with the bearer to be transmitted via thecell). In an example, if a CAG of a cell is associated with an NPN(e.g., network slice) and if the wireless device is not allowed toaccess the CAG (e.g., a non-member of the CAG; the cell of the CAG is aCAG/closed cell; and/or the wireless device is only allowed to access acell associated with at least one CAG when the cell is a hybrid cell ora normal/non-CAG cell), the second base station (e.g., or the basestation distributed unit) may not configure the cell for a bearer (e.g.,logical channel) configured for communication employing the NPN (e.g.,not configure packets associated with the bearer to be transmitted viathe cell).

In an example, the second base station (e.g., or the base stationdistributed unit) may send, to the first base station (e.g., or the basestation central unit) and/or based on (e.g., in response to) configuringthe one or more secondary cells (e.g., or the one or more cells) for thewireless device, an acknowledge message for the request message. In anexample, the first base station (e.g., or the base station central unit)may receive, from the second base station (e.g., or the base stationdistributed unit), the acknowledge message for the request message. Theacknowledge message may comprise the cell configuration parameters ofthe one or more secondary cells (e.g., or the one or more cells) for thewireless device. The one or more secondary cells (e.g., or the one ormore cells) may be associated with the at least one first CAG. In anexample, the at least one first CAG associated with the one or moresecondary cells (e.g., or the one or more cells) may comprise the secondCAG (e.g., of the wireless device).

In an example, (e.g., for the first base station) the acknowledgemessage may comprise at least one of: a secondary node (S-node) additionrequest acknowledge message; a secondary node (S-node) modificationrequest acknowledge message; and/or the like. In an example, (e.g., forthe base station central unit) the acknowledge message may comprise atleast one of: a UE context setup response message; a UE contextmodification response message; a UE context modification requiredmessage; and/or the like.

In an example, the acknowledge message may comprise at least one of: abearer identifier of an allowed/configured bearer for the wirelessdevice; a bearer identifier of a rejected bearer for the wirelessdevice, the rejected bearer associated with a third CAG for a thirdnetwork slice (e.g., third NPN) (e.g., the third CAG may not beconfigured for the one or more serving cells); a value indicating acause of rejecting the rejected bearer for the wireless device (e.g.,the cause for the rejected bearer may be change of a membership oraccess configuration of a serving cell of the one or more serving cells)(e.g., the cause for the rejected bearer may be that the second basestation or the base station distributed unit does not have a cell (e.g.,that the wireless device is in the coverage of) associated with a CAGfor an NPN/network slice of the rejected bearer, the CAG that thewireless device is allowed to access); and/or the like. In an example,the acknowledge message may comprise at least one of: a cell identifierof an allowed/configured cell for the wireless device; a cell identifierof a rejected cell for the wireless device, the rejected cell being anormal cell (e.g., non-CAG cell, open cell, public cell, etc.) and/orassociated with a third CAG (e.g., the wireless device may not beallowed to access the third CAG; and/or the rejected cell may be ahybrid cell and/or non-CAG cell and/or the wireless device is onlyallowed to access a CAG cell that the wireless device is a member of); avalue indicating a cause of rejecting the rejected cell for the wirelessdevice (e.g., the cause for the rejected cell may be change of amembership or access configuration of the rejected cell; e.g., changethe rejected cell to a cell for a third CAG and/or to a normal/non-CAGcell) (e.g., the cause for the rejected cell may be that the rejectedcell is associated with a CAG that the wireless device is not a memberand/or that the rejected cell is a normal cell (e.g., non-CAG cell));and/or the like.

In an example, the acknowledge message may comprise at least one of: acell identifier of the allowed/configured cell for the bearer associatedwith one of the at least one first CAG and/or the second CAG; a cellidentifier of the rejected cell for the bearer associated with a thirdCAG and/or no CAG (e.g., normal cell); a value indicating the cause ofrejecting the rejected cell for the bearer (e.g., the cause for therejected cell for the bearer may be that the wireless device is notallowed to access the cell for the bearer/network slice/NPN due to nomembership of the third CAG); and/or the like. In an example, the causefor the rejected cell for the bearer may be that the second base station(e.g., or the base station distributed unit) did not configure the cellfor a bearer (e.g., logical channel) configured for communicationemploying an NPN (e.g., not configure packets associated with the bearerto be transmitted via the cell) when a CAG of a cell is associated withthe NPN (e.g., network slice) and the wireless device is not allowed toaccess the CAG (e.g., a non-member of the CAG; the cell of the CAG is aCAG/closed cell; and/or the wireless device is only allowed to access acell associated with at least one CAG when the cell is a hybrid cell ora normal/non-CAG cell).

In an example, the acknowledge message and/or the cell configurationparameters may comprise RRC configuration parameters (e.g.,RLC/MAC/physical layer parameters) for the wireless device.

In an example, based on the acknowledge message and/or in response toreceiving the acknowledge message, the first base station (e.g., or thebase station central unit) may transmit/send, to the wireless device, afirst RRC message comprising the cell configuration parameters of theone or more secondary cells. In an example, the base station centralunit may transmit the first RRC message via the base station distributedunit. The first RRC message may comprise the RRC configurationparameters for the wireless device. The first RRC message may compriseat least one of: RRC reconfiguration message, RRC reestablishmentmessage, RRC setup message, RRC resume message, and/or the like.

In an example, the first RRC message may comprise at least one of: cellconfiguration parameters of the one or more secondary cells (e.g., orthe one or more cells); bearer configuration parameters of a bearer;and/or the like.

In an example, the first RRC message may comprise at least one of: a UEidentifier (e.g., TMSI, C-RNTI, IMSI, S-TMSI, IMEI, etc.) of thewireless device, a cell identifier (e.g., physical cell identifier, PCI,global cell identifier, GCI, CGI, cell index, etc.) for the wirelessdevice, cell information (e.g., cell index, cell group configuration,radio link failure timers and constants, RLM in-sync/out-of-syncthreshold, reconfiguration with sync comprising t304 value, RACHconfiguration parameters comprising a preamble index and/or RACHresources, carrier frequency information, bandwidth part configurationparameters, beam configuration parameters of SS beam and/or CSI-RS beam,transmission power configuration parameter comprisingp-MAX/p-MgNB/p-SgNB, and/or the like) of one or more serving cells(e.g., the one or more cells) for the wireless device, a beareridentifier of the bearer associated with a service for the wirelessdevice, a logical channel identifier (index) of the bearer, a PDUsession identifier of (e.g., associated with) the bearer, a QoS flowidentifier of the bearer, a network slice information (e.g., S-NSSAI,NSSAI) for a network slice (e.g., the first network slice) associatedwith the bearer and/or the service, an identifier of a network (e.g.,the first NPN), an identifier of a CAG (e.g., the first CAG) that thewireless device is allowed to access, and/or the like. In an example,the service associated with the bearer may comprise at least one of avoice, an ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC), avehicle-to-everything (V2X) (e.g., V2I, V2V, V2P, etc.), an emergencyservice, and/or the like. In an example, the service associated with thebearer may comprise at least one of a delay tolerant service, anInternet-of-things (IoT) service,

In an example, the first RRC message may comprise at least one of anrrc-transaction identifier information element (IE), a radio resourceconfiguration dedicated IE comprising one or more radio resourceconfiguration parameters, measurement configuration parameters, mobilitycontrol information parameters, one or more NAS layer parameters,security parameters, antenna information parameters, secondary celladdition/modification parameters, secondary cell release parameters,WLAN configuration parameters, WLAN offloading configuration parameters,LWA configuration parameters, LWIP configuration parameters, RCLWIconfiguration parameters, sidelink configuration parameters, V2Xconfiguration parameters, uplink transmission power configurationparameters (e.g. p-MAX, p-MeNB, p-SeNB), a power control modeinformation element, secondary cell group configuration parameters,and/or the like.

In an example, the first base station (e.g., or the base station centralunit) may receive, from the wireless device, a second RRC messageindicating successful completion of applying/configuring the cellconfiguration parameters for the one or more secondary cells. In anexample, the base station central unit may receive the second RRCmessage via the base station distributed unit. The second RRC messagemay comprise at least one of: RRC reconfiguration complete message, RRCreestablishment complete message, RRC setup complete message, RRC resumecomplete message, and/or the like. The wireless device mayreceive/transmit transport blocks from/to the second base station viathe one or more secondary cells (e.g., or via the one or more cells) andbased on the cell configuration parameters (e.g., and/or the first RRCmessage).

In an example, the first base station may receive, from a third basestation, second cell information of one or more second cells. The secondcell information may indicate that the one or more second cells areassociated with no CAG. The first base station may determine, based onthe second cell information, to not configure the third base station forthe wireless device that is only allowed to access a cell associatedwith at least one CAG.

In an example, the second base station may receive, from the first basestation, the request message for a secondary node configuration for thewireless device. The request message may comprise the field indicatingthat the wireless device is only allowed to access a cell associatedwith at least one CAG. The second base station may determine, based onthe request message, to configure the one or more secondary cells forthe wireless device. The one or more secondary cells may be associatedwith the at least one first CAG. The second base station may send, tothe first base station, the acknowledge message for the request message.The acknowledge message may comprise the cell configuration parametersfor the one or more secondary cells. The second base station maydetermine, based on the request message, to not configure a cell for thewireless device, the cell being not associated with any CAG. In anexample, the second base station may determine, based on the requestmessage, to not configure a cell (e.g., hybrid cell) for the wirelessdevice, the cell being not associated with a CAG (e.g., the second CAG)that the wireless device is a member of.

In an example, a base station central unit may receive, from a wirelessdevice, a measurement report comprising measurement results for one ormore serving cells of a base station distributed unit. The base stationdistributed unit may determine, based on the measurement report, toconfigure the base station distributed unit for the wireless device. Thebase station central unit may send, to the base station distributed unitand/or in response to the determining, a request message for a contextconfiguration for the wireless device. The request message may comprisea field indicating that the wireless device is only allowed to access acell associated with at least one CAG. The base station central unit mayreceive, from the base station distributed unit, an acknowledge messagefor the request message. The acknowledge message may comprise cellconfiguration parameters of one or more cells for the wireless devicebased on the request message. The one or more cells may be associatedwith at least one first CAG.

In an example, the base station distributed unit may receive, from thebase station central unit, the request message for a contextconfiguration for the wireless device. The request message may comprisethe field indicating that the wireless device is only allowed to accessa cell associated with at least one CAG. The base station distributedunit may determine, based on the request message, to configure the oneor more cells for the wireless device. The one or more cells may beassociated with the at least one first CAG. The base station distributedunit may send, to the base station central unit, the acknowledge messagefor the request message. The acknowledge message may comprise the cellconfiguration parameters for the one or more cells. In an example, thebase station distributed unit may determine, based on the requestmessage, to not configure a cell for the wireless device, the cell beingnot associated with any CAG. In an example, the base station distributedunit may determine, based on the request message, to not configure acell (e.g., hybrid cell) for the wireless device, the cell being notassociated with a CAG that the wireless device is a member of.

In an example, as shown in FIG. 22 and/or FIG. 23, a first base stationmay receive, from a wireless device, a measurement report comprisingmeasurement results for one or more serving cells of a second basestation. The first base station may determine, based on the measurementreport, to configure the second base station as a secondary node for thewireless device. The first base station may send, to the second basestation and/or in response to the determining, a request message for asecondary node configuration for the wireless device. The requestmessage may comprise a field indicating that the wireless device is onlyallowed to access a cell associated with at least one CAG. The firstbase station may receive, from the second base station, an acknowledgemessage for the request message. The acknowledge message may comprisecell configuration parameters of one or more secondary cells for thewireless device based on the request message. The one or more secondarycells may be associated with at least one first CAG.

In an example, the first base station may be a master base station ofthe wireless device. The first base station may provide for the wirelessdevice (e.g., for communication with the wireless device) at least oneof: a radio resource control (RRC) function; a service data adaptationprotocol (SDAP) layer function; a packet data convergence protocol(PDCP) layer function; a radio link control layer (RLC) function; amedium access control (MAC) layer function; and/or a part of a physicallayer function. In an example, the second base station may a secondarybase station of the wireless device. The second base station may providefor the wireless device at least one of: an RLC layer function; a MAClayer function; a physical layer function; and/or a part of a physicallayer function.

In an example, the first base station may receive an information messageindicating at least one of: that the wireless device is allowed toaccess a second CAG; and/or that the wireless device is only allowed toaccess a cell associated with at least one CAG (e.g., the wirelessdevice is a CAG-only UE). The first base station may receive theinformation message from at least one of: an access and mobilitymanagement function (AMF); a third base station (e.g., via a handoverrequest message); and/or the wireless device. In an example, thewireless device may be a member of the second CAG. In an example, the atleast one first CAG of the one or more secondary cells may comprise thesecond CAG.

In an example, the first base station may receive, from the wirelessdevice, the measurement report via an RRC message. The measurementreport may comprise at least one of: a cell identifier of a cell of theone or more serving cells; an identifier of a CAG associated with a cellof the one or more serving cells; and/or an information field indicatingwhether a cell of the one or more serving cells is a hybrid cell or aclosed cell for a CAG. The measurement report may comprise at least oneof: a reference signal received power (RSRP) of the one or more servingcells; and/or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) of the one ormore serving cells.

In an example, the one or more serving cells may be at least one of: anon-CAG cell (e.g., normal cell, open cell, public cell, etc.); a hybridcell for a CAG; a closed cell (e.g., CAG cell) for a CAG; and/or thelike. In an example, the determining to configure the second basestation may be further based on at least one of: a load status (e.g.,medium/low traffic load, medium/low hardware load, etc.) of the secondbase station and/or the one or more serving cells; an interferencestatus at the one or more serving cells of the second base station;and/or the like.

In an example, the request message may comprise at least one of: anidentifier of the second CAG (e.g., CAG whitelist and/or allowed CAGs ofthe wireless device) that the wireless device is allowed to access; acell identifier of a cell of the one or more serving cells; and/or thelike. The request message may comprise at least one of: a secondary node(S-node) addition request message; a secondary node (S-node)modification request message; and/or the like. The request message maycomprise an identifier of a target secondary cell comprising at leastone of: a primary secondary cell (PScell); a special cell (Spcell); asecondary cell; and/or the like. The request message may comprise bearerconfiguration parameters of one or more bearers for at least one of: afirst network slice associated with the second CAG; a first non-publicnetwork (NPN) associated with the second CAG; the second CAG; and/or thelike.

In an example, the field of the request message may indicate at leastone of: that the wireless device is not allowed to access a cell that isnot associated with any CAG; that the wireless device is not allowed toaccess a cell associated with no CAG; that the wireless device is onlyallowed to access a cell that is associated with the second CAG that thewireless device is a member of; that the wireless device is not allowedto access a cell that is not associated with the second CAG that thewireless device is a member of; and/or the like. The field of therequest message may indicate that the wireless device is allowed toaccess a cell that is not associated with the second CAG and/or that isassociated with at least one CAG (e.g., other than the second CAG).

In an example, the second base station may perform, based on the requestmessage and/or the field, at least one of: configuring a closed cell(e.g., CAG cell) associated with a CAG (e.g., the second CAG) that thewireless device is a member of; configuring a hybrid cell (e.g., CAGcell) associated with a CAG that the wireless device is a non-member of;not configuring a hybrid cell (e.g., CAG cell) associated with a CAGthat the wireless device is a non-member of; not configuring anormal/open cell (e.g., non-CAG cell). In an example, the second basestation may configure, based on the performing, the cell configurationparameters of the one or more secondary cells.

In an example, the acknowledge message may comprise at least one of: asecondary node (S-node) addition request acknowledge message; asecondary node (S-node) modification request acknowledge message; and/orthe like. The acknowledge message may comprise at least one of: a beareridentifier of an allowed/configured bearer for the wireless device; abearer identifier of a rejected bearer for the wireless device, therejected bearer associated with a third CAG for a third network slice(e.g., third NPN); a value indicating a cause of rejecting the rejectedbearer for the wireless device (e.g., the cause for the rejected bearermay be change of a membership or access configuration of a servingcell); and/or the like. In an example, the acknowledge message maycomprise at least one of: a cell identifier of an allowed/configuredcell for the wireless device; a cell identifier of a rejected cell forthe wireless device, the rejected cell associated with a third CAG; avalue indicating a cause of rejecting the rejected cell for the wirelessdevice (e.g., the cause for the rejected cell may be change of amembership or access configuration of the rejected cell); and/or thelike.

In an example, the acknowledge message may comprise at least one of: acell identifier of an allowed/configured cell for a bearer associatedwith one of the at least one first CAG; a cell identifier of a rejectedcell for a bearer associated with a third CAG; a value indicating acause of rejecting the rejected cell for the bearer (e.g., the cause forthe rejected cell for the bearer may be that the wireless device is notallowed to access the cell for the bearer/network slice/NPN due to nomembership of the third CAG); and/or the like.

In an example, the one or more secondary cells may belong to the atleast one first CAG. The at least one first CAG may comprise the secondCAG. The one or more secondary cells may be associated with at least oneof: a first non-public network (NPN); a first network slice; a firstpublic land mobile network (PLMN); and/or the like. The one or moresecondary cells may comprise a special cell (Spcell; e.g., primarysecondary cell, PScell) for the wireless device.

In an example, the first base station may receive, from the second basestation, a configuration message comprising cell information of the oneor more serving cells. The cell information may indicate that the one ormore serving cells are associated with one or more CAGs (e.g., thesecond CAG). In an example, the determining to configure the second basestation for the wireless device may be further based on the cellinformation of the one or more serving cells. The cell information mayindication that the one or more serving cells are a hybrid cell or aclosed cell (e.g., CAG cell).

In an example, the first base station may send, to an access andmobility management function (AMF), an indication message requestingmembership verification of the wireless device for one or more CAGsassociated with the one or more serving cells. The first base stationmay receive, from the AMF, a confirm message indicating that thewireless device is at least one of: allowed to access a CAG; and/or onlyallowed to access a CAG. In an example, the sending the request messageto the second base station may be based on the confirm message. In anexample, the determining to configure the second base station for thewireless device may be further based on the confirm message. In anexample, the confirm message may indicate at least one of: the wirelessdevice is allowed to access first one of the one or more CAGs associatedwith the one or more serving cells; the wireless device is not allowedto access second one of the one or more CAGs associated with the one ormore serving cells; and/or the like.

In an example, the first base station may transmit/send, to the wirelessdevice, a first RRC message comprising the cell configuration parametersof the one or more secondary cells. The first base station may receive,from the wireless device, a second RRC message indicating successfulcompletion of applying/configuring the cell configuration parameters forthe one or more secondary cells. The wireless device mayreceive/transmit transport blocks from/to the second base station viathe one or more secondary cells and based on the cell configurationparameters.

In an example, the first base station may receive, from a third basestation, second cell information of one or more second cells. The secondcell information may indicate that the one or more second cells areassociated with no CAG. The first base station may determine, based onthe second cell information, to not configure the third base station forthe wireless device that is only allowed to access a cell associatedwith at least one CAG.

In an example, the second base station may receive, from the first basestation, the request message for a secondary node configuration for thewireless device. The request message may comprise the field indicatingthat the wireless device is only allowed to access a cell associatedwith at least one CAG. The second base station may determine, based onthe request message, to configure the one or more secondary cells forthe wireless device. The one or more secondary cells may be associatedwith the at least one first CAG. The second base station may send, tothe first base station, the acknowledge message for the request message.The acknowledge message may comprise the cell configuration parametersfor the one or more secondary cells. The second base station maydetermine, based on the request message, to not configure a cell for thewireless device, the cell being not associated with any CAG. In anexample, the second base station may determine, based on the requestmessage, to not configure a cell (e.g., hybrid cell) for the wirelessdevice, the cell being not associated with a CAG (e.g., the second CAG)that the wireless device is a member of.

In an example, as shown in FIG. 24 and/or FIG. 25, a base stationcentral unit may receive, from a wireless device, a measurement reportcomprising measurement results for one or more serving cells of a basestation distributed unit. The base station distributed unit maydetermine, based on the measurement report, to configure the basestation distributed unit for the wireless device. The base stationcentral unit may send, to the base station distributed unit and/or inresponse to the determining, a request message for a contextconfiguration for the wireless device. The request message may comprisea field indicating that the wireless device is only allowed to access acell associated with at least one CAG. The base station central unit mayreceive, from the base station distributed unit, an acknowledge messagefor the request message. The acknowledge message may comprise cellconfiguration parameters of one or more cells for the wireless devicebased on the request message. The one or more cells may be associatedwith at least one first CAG.

In an example, the base station distributed unit may receive, from thebase station central unit, the request message for a contextconfiguration for the wireless device. The request message may comprisethe field indicating that the wireless device is only allowed to accessa cell associated with at least one CAG. The base station distributedunit may determine, based on the request message, to configure the oneor more cells for the wireless device. The one or more cells may beassociated with the at least one first CAG. The base station distributedunit may send, to the base station central unit, the acknowledge messagefor the request message. The acknowledge message may comprise the cellconfiguration parameters for the one or more cells. In an example, thebase station distributed unit may determine, based on the requestmessage, to not configure a cell for the wireless device, the cell beingnot associated with any CAG. In an example, the base station distributedunit may determine, based on the request message, to not configure acell (e.g., hybrid cell) for the wireless device, the cell being notassociated with a CAG that the wireless device is a member of.

FIG. 26 is an example diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure. At 2610, a base station distributed unit mayreceive, from a base station central unit, a request message for acontext configuration of a wireless device. The request message maycomprise a field indicating whether the wireless device is only allowedto access a cell associated with at least one closed access group. At2620, the base station distributed unit may determine, based on therequest message, cell configuration parameters of one or more cells forthe wireless device. The one or more cells may be associated with the atleast one closed access group. At 2630, the base station distributedunit may send, to the base station central unit, an acknowledge messagecomprising the cell configuration parameters of the one or more cellsfor the wireless device. The request message may comprise at least oneof: an identifier of a second closed access group that the wirelessdevice is allowed to access, a cell identifier of a cell of the one ormore cells, and/or the like.

In an example, the request message may comprise bearer configurationparameters of one or more bearers. The bearer configuration parametersmay indicate at least one of: a first network slice being associatedwith a second closed access group; a first non-public network beingassociated with a second closed access group; a second closed accessgroup; and/or the like. The field may indicate at least one of: that thewireless device is not allowed to access a cell that is not associatedwith any closed access group; that the wireless device is not allowed toaccess a cell that is not associated with a second closed access groupthat the wireless device is a member of; and/or the like. In an example,the base station distributed unit may determine, based on the requestmessage, to not configure a cell for the wireless device. The cell maynot be associated with any closed access group. The cell may not beassociated with a second closed access group that the wireless device isa member of.

In an example, the acknowledge message may indicate that a cause ofrejecting a cell for the wireless device is at least one of: thewireless device is only allowed to access a cell associated with the atleast one closed access group; the wireless device is not allowed toaccess a cell associated with a second closed access group; and/or thelike. In an example, the acknowledge message may comprise at least oneof: a cell identifier of an allowed cell for the wireless device; a cellidentifier of a rejected cell for the wireless device; a valueindicating a cause of rejecting the rejected cell for the wirelessdevice (e.g., the cause may be change of an access configuration of therejected cell); and/or the like.

In an example, the base station distributed unit may transmit transportblocks to the wireless device via the one or more cells and based on thecell configuration parameters. The base station distributed unit mayreceive transport blocks from the wireless device via the one or morecells and based on the cell configuration parameters. In an example, thebase station central unit may receive an information message indicatingat least one of: that the wireless device is only allowed to access acell associated with the at least one closed access group; that thewireless device is allowed to access a second closed access group;and/or the like. The receiving the information message may comprisereceiving the information from at least one of: an access and mobilitymanagement function, a second base station, the wireless device, and/orthe like.

Embodiments may be configured to operate as needed. The disclosedmechanism may be performed when certain criteria are met, for example,in a wireless device, a base station, a radio environment, a network, acombination of the above, and/or the like. Example criteria may bebased, at least in part, on for example, wireless device or network nodeconfigurations, traffic load, initial system set up, packet sizes,traffic characteristics, a combination of the above, and/or the like.When the one or more criteria are met, various example embodiments maybe applied. Therefore, it may be possible to implement exampleembodiments that selectively implement disclosed protocols.

A base station may communicate with a mix of wireless devices. Wirelessdevices and/or base stations may support multiple technologies, and/ormultiple releases of the same technology. Wireless devices may have somespecific capability(ies) depending on wireless device category and/orcapability(ies). A base station may comprise multiple sectors. When thisdisclosure refers to a base station communicating with a plurality ofwireless devices, this disclosure may refer to a subset of the totalwireless devices in a coverage area. This disclosure may refer to, forexample, a plurality of wireless devices of a given LTE or 5G releasewith a given capability and in a given sector of the base station. Theplurality of wireless devices in this disclosure may refer to a selectedplurality of wireless devices, and/or a subset of total wireless devicesin a coverage area which perform according to disclosed methods, and/orthe like. There may be a plurality of base stations or a plurality ofwireless devices in a coverage area that may not comply with thedisclosed methods, for example, because those wireless devices or basestations perform based on older releases of LTE or 5G technology.

In this disclosure, “a” and “an” and similar phrases are to beinterpreted as “at least one” and “one or more.” Similarly, any termthat ends with the suffix “(s)” is to be interpreted as “at least one”and “one or more.” In this disclosure, the term “may” is to beinterpreted as “may, for example.” In other words, the term “may” isindicative that the phrase following the term “may” is an example of oneof a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, beemployed to one or more of the various embodiments.

If A and B are sets and every element of A is also an element of B, A iscalled a subset of B. In this specification, only non-empty sets andsubsets are considered. For example, possible subsets of B={cell1,cell2} are: {cell1}, {cell2}, and {cell1, cell2}. The phrase “based on”(or equally “based at least on”) is indicative that the phrase followingthe term “based on” is an example of one of a multitude of suitablepossibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of thevarious embodiments. The phrase “in response to” (or equally “inresponse at least to”) is indicative that the phrase following thephrase “in response to” is an example of one of a multitude of suitablepossibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of thevarious embodiments. The phrase “depending on” (or equally “depending atleast to”) is indicative that the phrase following the phrase “dependingon” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities thatmay, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments.The phrase “employing/using” (or equally “employing/using at least”) isindicative that the phrase following the phrase “employing/using” is anexample of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or maynot, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments.

The term configured may relate to the capacity of a device whether thedevice is in an operational or non-operational state. Configured mayalso refer to specific settings in a device that effect the operationalcharacteristics of the device whether the device is in an operational ornon-operational state. In other words, the hardware, software, firmware,registers, memory values, and/or the like may be “configured” within adevice, whether the device is in an operational or nonoperational state,to provide the device with specific characteristics. Terms such as “acontrol message to cause in a device” may mean that a control messagehas parameters that may be used to configure specific characteristics ormay be used to implement certain actions in the device, whether thedevice is in an operational or non-operational state

In this disclosure, various embodiments are disclosed. Limitations,features, and/or elements from the disclosed example embodiments may becombined to create further embodiments within the scope of thedisclosure.

In this disclosure, parameters (or equally called, fields, orInformation elements: IEs) may comprise one or more information objects,and an information object may comprise one or more other objects. Forexample, if parameter (IE) N comprises parameter (IE) M, and parameter(IE) M comprises parameter (IE) K, and parameter (IE) K comprisesparameter (information element) J. Then, for example, N comprises K, andN comprises J. In an example embodiment, when one or more messagescomprise a plurality of parameters, it implies that a parameter in theplurality of parameters is in at least one of the one or more messages,but does not have to be in each of the one or more messages.

Furthermore, many features presented above are described as beingoptional through the use of “may” or the use of parentheses. For thesake of brevity and legibility, the present disclosure does notexplicitly recite each and every permutation that may be obtained bychoosing from the set of optional features. However, the presentdisclosure is to be interpreted as explicitly disclosing all suchpermutations. For example, a system described as having three optionalfeatures may be embodied in seven different ways, namely with just oneof the three possible features, with any two of the three possiblefeatures or with all three of the three possible features.

Many of the elements described in the disclosed embodiments may beimplemented as modules. A module is defined here as an element thatperforms a defined function and has a defined interface to otherelements. The modules described in this disclosure may be implemented inhardware, software in combination with hardware, firmware, wetware (i.e.hardware with a biological element) or a combination thereof, all ofwhich may be behaviorally equivalent. For example, modules may beimplemented as a software routine written in a computer languageconfigured to be executed by a hardware machine (such as C, C++,Fortran, Java, Basic, Matlab or the like) or a modeling/simulationprogram such as Simulink, Stateflow, GNU Octave, or LabVIEWMathScript.Additionally, it may be possible to implement modules using physicalhardware that incorporates discrete or programmable analog, digitaland/or quantum hardware. Examples of programmable hardware comprise:computers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, application-specificintegrated circuits (ASICs); field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs); andcomplex programmable logic devices (CPLDs). Computers, microcontrollersand microprocessors are programmed using languages such as assembly, C,C++ or the like. FPGAs, ASICs and CPLDs are often programmed usinghardware description languages (HDL) such as VHSIC hardware descriptionlanguage (VHDL) or Verilog that configure connections between internalhardware modules with lesser functionality on a programmable device. Theabove mentioned technologies are often used in combination to achievethe result of a functional module.

The disclosure of this patent document incorporates material which issubject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection tothe facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or thepatent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Officepatent file or records, for the limited purposes required by law, butotherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example, and notlimitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevantart(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made thereinwithout departing from the scope. In fact, after reading the abovedescription, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art(s)how to implement alternative embodiments. Thus, the present embodimentsshould not be limited by any of the above described exemplaryembodiments.

In addition, it should be understood that any figures which highlightthe functionality and advantages, are presented for example purposesonly. The disclosed architecture is sufficiently flexible andconfigurable, such that it may be utilized in ways other than thatshown. For example, the actions listed in any flowchart may bere-ordered or only optionally used in some embodiments.

Further, the purpose of the Abstract of the Disclosure is to enable theU.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, andespecially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art whoare not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determinequickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of thetechnical disclosure of the application. The Abstract of the Disclosureis not intended to be limiting as to the scope in any way.

Finally, it is the applicant's intent that only claims that include theexpress language “means for” or “step for” be interpreted under 35U.S.C. 112. Claims that do not expressly include the phrase “means for”or “step for” are not to be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a base stationdistributed unit from a base station central unit, a request message fora context configuration of a wireless device, wherein the requestmessage comprises a field indicating whether the wireless device is onlyallowed to access a cell associated with at least one closed accessgroup; determining, by the base station distributed unit and based onthe request message, cell configuration parameters of one or more cellsfor the wireless device, wherein the one or more cells are associatedwith the at least one closed access group; and sending, by the basestation distributed unit to the base station central unit, anacknowledge message comprising the cell configuration parameters of theone or more cells for the wireless device.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the request message comprises at least one of: an identifier ofa second closed access group that the wireless device is allowed toaccess; or a cell identifier of a cell of the one or more cells.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the request message comprises bearerconfiguration parameters of one or more bearers, the bearerconfiguration parameters indicating at least one of: a first networkslice being associated with a second closed access group; a firstnon-public network being associated with a second closed access group;or a second closed access group.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thefield indicates at least one of: that the wireless device is not allowedto access a cell that is not associated with any closed access group; orthat the wireless device is not allowed to access a cell that is notassociated with a second closed access group that the wireless device isa member of.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining,by the base station distributed unit and based on the request message,to not configure a cell for the wireless device, wherein: the cell isnot associated with any closed access group; or the cell is notassociated with a second closed access group that the wireless device isa member of.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the acknowledge messageindicates that a cause of rejecting a cell for the wireless device is atleast one of: the wireless device is only allowed to access a cellassociated with the at least one closed access group; or the wirelessdevice is not allowed to access a cell associated with a second closedaccess group.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the acknowledge messagecomprises at least one of: a cell identifier of an allowed cell for thewireless device; a cell identifier of a rejected cell for the wirelessdevice; or a value indicating a cause of rejecting the rejected cell forthe wireless device, wherein the cause is change of an accessconfiguration of the rejected cell.
 8. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: transmitting, by the base station distributed unit,transport blocks to the wireless device via the one or more cells andbased on the cell configuration parameters; or receiving, by the basestation distributed unit, transport blocks from the wireless device viathe one or more cells and based on the cell configuration parameters. 9.The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the base stationcentral unit, an information message indicating at least one of: thatthe wireless device is only allowed to access a cell associated with theat least one closed access group; or that the wireless device is allowedto access a second closed access group.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein the receiving the information message comprises receiving theinformation from at least one of: an access and mobility managementfunction; a second base station; or the wireless device.
 11. A basestation distributed unit comprising: one or more processors; and memorystoring instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors,cause the base station distributed unit to: receive, from a base stationcentral unit, a request message for a context configuration of awireless device, wherein the request message comprises a fieldindicating whether the wireless device is only allowed to access a cellassociated with at least one closed access group; determine, based onthe request message, cell configuration parameters of one or more cellsfor the wireless device, wherein the one or more cells are associatedwith the at least one closed access group; and send, to the base stationcentral unit, an acknowledge message comprising the cell configurationparameters of the one or more cells for the wireless device.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the request message comprises at least oneof: an identifier of a second closed access group that the wirelessdevice is allowed to access; or a cell identifier of a cell of the oneor more cells.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the request messagecomprises bearer configuration parameters of one or more bearers, thebearer configuration parameters indicating at least one of: a firstnetwork slice being associated with a second closed access group; afirst non-public network being associated with a second closed accessgroup; or a second closed access group.
 14. The method of claim 11,wherein the field indicates at least one of: that the wireless device isnot allowed to access a cell that is not associated with any closedaccess group; or that the wireless device is not allowed to access acell that is not associated with a second closed access group that thewireless device is a member of.
 15. The method of claim 11, wherein theinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further causethe base station distributed unit to determine, based on the requestmessage, to not configure a cell for the wireless device, wherein: thecell is not associated with any closed access group; or the cell is notassociated with a second closed access group that the wireless device isa member of.
 16. The method of claim 11, wherein the acknowledge messageindicates that a cause of rejecting a cell for the wireless device is atleast one of: the wireless device is only allowed to access a cellassociated with the at least one closed access group; or the wirelessdevice is not allowed to access a cell associated with a second closedaccess group.
 17. The method of claim 11, wherein the acknowledgemessage comprises at least one of: a cell identifier of an allowed cellfor the wireless device; a cell identifier of a rejected cell for thewireless device; or a value indicating a cause of rejecting the rejectedcell for the wireless device, wherein the cause is change of an accessconfiguration of the rejected cell.
 18. The method of claim 11, whereinthe instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furthercause the base station distributed unit to: transmit transport blocks tothe wireless device via the one or more cells and based on the cellconfiguration parameters; or receive transport blocks from the wirelessdevice via the one or more cells and based on the cell configurationparameters.
 19. The method of claim 11, wherein the base station centralunit receives an information message indicating at least one of: thatthe wireless device is only allowed to access a cell associated with theat least one closed access group; or that the wireless device is allowedto access a second closed access group.
 20. A system comprising: a basestation central unit comprising: one or more processors; and memorystoring instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors,cause the base station central unit to: receive an information messageindicating that a wireless device is only allowed to access a cellassociated with at least one closed access group; and send, to a basestation distributed unit, a request message for a context configurationof the wireless device, wherein the request message comprises a fieldindicating that the wireless device is only allowed to access a cellassociated with the at least one closed access group; the base stationdistributed unit comprising: one or more processors; and memory storinginstructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causethe base station distributed unit to: receive the request message;determine, based on the request message, cell configuration parametersof one or more cells for the wireless device, wherein the one or morecells are associated with the at least one closed access group; andsend, to the base station central unit, an acknowledge messagecomprising the cell configuration parameters of the one or more cellsfor the wireless device.